


Heartburn

by ChaosComix



Series: Heartburn and Heartache (Hospital!verse) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, M/M, Minor Character Death, References to Homophobia, Tumblr Prompt, and of course smut, some graphic medical procedures, there will be lots of smut whenever I actually get to it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-16 10:38:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 51,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaosComix/pseuds/ChaosComix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hospital!AU Doctor!Castiel/Nurse!Dean</p><p>Dean Winchester, a certified Burn RN, is one of the most dedicated employees the St. Devic Hospital has and today is no different. But when his patient expectantly goes into cardiac arrest and needs to be transferred to the heart hospital floor under the care of one Doctor Novak, Dean can’t help but feel his patient isn’t the only one who’s going to have to get his heart under control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

“ _Code blue. Burn unit. Room four-seven-one. Code blue. Burn-_ ”

Dean is on his lunch break when the code is called overhead. He drops his half eaten cheeseburger, and runs as fast but as safely as he can to the patient. _His_ patient.

 

____________________

 

The survival rate of seventy-five percent burn victims is unfortunately low, but that’s part of the reason Dean went to all the trouble of going through medical school. His mother Mary was one such patient when she and the rest of the Winchester family were caught inside a terrible house fire.

It turned out their neighbors, some boys renting a house for college, were running a meth lab in the basement. Running a meth lab was stupid and dangerous enough, but living in the same place as the lab put idiocy to a new level.

The hospital was already short on ICU and Burn staff that night and with six more patients coming, four of which were over seventy-five percent burns, there was little that could be done. Fortunately for the hospital, one of the students who suffered from a ninety percent burn passed away on the ambulance ride over, but it was still too much for the unit to handle. The other two college students had to get diverted to another hospital as their burns were beyond that what the staff could safely deal with, and according to his father John, Mary should have been transferred as well.

In the end and even with the minor burns that Dean suffered, it was still clinically unsafe for the hospital to treat the current patients and the Winchester family. Mary was treated first and put in isolation to keep from the wounds from becoming infected. Sam was sent to the pediatric floor when the nurses and doctors didn’t find any indication of burns, but were still concerned about smoke inhalation that might have occurred.

Dean wasn’t as lucky as his brother, however. When John stayed behind to help put out the flames that encompassed Mary, he screamed for Dean to get him and his brother out. Fire was blazing everywhere and it was almost impossible to get down the stairs and out of the house, but Dean tucked his younger brother closer and shielded Sam from the flames. In the end, Dean’s left shoulder was too close to the walls and his shirt caught fire. Rather than putting it out, he kept running and made sure to get him and Sam out of the house first.

Before Dean was sent to his own room, John praised Dean for keeping his brother safe and to behave for the nurses. While John still had a good amount of burns, it was nothing compared to his wife or the college students, so John was determined to see that Mary and his sons were taken care of first.

Mary didn’t make it through the night. She kept crying out. The sedatives weren’t enough, but the nurses told her they couldn’t give her anything more for safety reasons. It surprised the nurses that she wasn’t actually crying out for more pain relief but for the condition of her family. When the nurses finally told Mary that everyone was stable and that she should focus on her own recovery it was all Mary needed to hear before she finally slipped away.

Dean was in his own room with a burn nurse doing a dressing change as well as a pediatric nurse who was taking his vitals when the code was called. When he asked the two nurses what that meant and what was going on in his mother’s room he was met with silence and pitied looks. He jumped out of his bed and tried running to Mary, but was met with resistance from where his IV was attached. The nurses were quick to react and pulled him back into the bed ignoring Dean’s screams and protests, and Dean watched as the MET team ran by his door in what he assumed was in Mary’s direction. One of the nurses was on her hospital phone for a brief moment before she focused on keeping Dean on the bed. A new person ran into his room and held Dean down while the nurse went for a syringe. She injected the needle into Dean’s IV and before he knew it, Dean’s body was sluggish and the stress of the night was lifting away. He fell asleep thinking about the painting on the wall and how the angel watching over the two boys looked like his mother.

He was too young at the time to understand why the hospital was so slow at giving help to his mother that night, but as Dean grew up he made a promise to do everything in his power to keep that from happening again.

 

_______________

 

When Dean gets to the room he sees the family standing outside to the side of the door. There was a man kneeling and holding his two children closely as tears slid down his face. Dean only paused a second to lock eyes with the man who looked desperate, pleadingly even, for Dean to fix this. He’s seen the look before, and it nearly kills him every time he sees it. To see families at their most vulnerable but that moment before the last of their hope is shattered away. He turns back to the room, determined to not see the moment when it’s torn away from them and replaced by grief.

The room inside has a completely different atmosphere and Dean can tell they are already getting ready to call the time of death. He pushes through when the last nurse gives up pulls away and Dean starts administering CPR. It’s only been five minutes and he’s disgusted that his colleagues have already given up. Minutes pass and there’s been no response and someone puts their hand on Dean’s shoulder who simply ignores it.

Right as one of the nurses leaves the room to talk to the family there’s a beep on the monitor. Everyone sucks in a breath and begins the normal protocol again as Dean keeps pushing for another beep. It’s weak, but it’s there and Dean can’t help but feel selfish at the fact he’s glad he doesn’t have to be giving any bad news today. Not yet. They’re not quite out of this, and just as Dean starts screaming out orders since no one else is one of the doctors from the heart center finally shows up.

The doctor doesn’t waste time and immediately goes to work. Dean wants to be mad at the guy for taking so long to get here, but it’s just past one in the morning and he’s honestly surprised with how he managed to get here in only nine minutes. If Dean’s being fair, he would have been amazed if the guy showed up in thirty. The heart beat drops again and the patient is back to flat lining. Dean feels his panic well up and gets ready to start CPR again, but the doctor holds him back. Just as Dean starts yelling every obscene name he can think of, the doctor barks out a few orders, which startles everyone.

Even Dean is shaken because not only is the guy going to open him up here, but he’s going to risk infection to the burns by rushing him to surgery. Even with the shock, Dean’s the first to react as the doctor cuts open Mr. Hiserly and starts pumping the patient’s heart with his own gloved hand. It seems to be working according to the monitors, but now the patient is losing blood and they need to get him to the operating room. The doctor, Dean and two other nurses fly through the door as fast as possible in the direction of the OR. Dean can’t bring himself to look at the family as they run by, but if they can save the patient it won’t matter.

Once they hit the operating room the doctor asks Dean to stay. He doesn’t actually ask for him specifically by name, he just kind of grabs Dean’s shoulder and asks him to keep an eye on the burns and to keep them as clean as possible while he operates. It’s _completely_ unorthodox, but so is the rest of the situation. Everyone garbs up for the surgery and Dean focuses on doing what he knows.

It’s a long and rough surgery, but given the rotten situation the staff was given it seemed like it was Mr. Hiserly’s lucky day. Well, okay, Dean won’t go that far. A seventy-five percent burn followed by a cardiac arrest is easily one of the worst days someone could have, but the guy seems to be stable.

“It’s a miracle. Thank God,” the doctor sighs as he leaves the isolation room.

Dean huffs a laugh as he peels off his gloves and then washes up at the wash station, “God has nothing to do with this man. That was all you.”

“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit…” The doctor pauses to look at Dean’s name tag, “Dean.”

It’s the first time he’s had a chance to slow down and finally get a good look at the doctor. The first thing that catches his eye is the messy brown hair like the guy just got out of bed and to be fair, he probably did. He’s looking down at a chart but Dean can see black framed glasses and a five o’clock shadow. After that he notices the lack of a badge. “That or we give the other nurses too much credit, Doctor…”

“Novak, but with what we just went through for the past several hours, please, call me Castiel.” Doctor Novak’s eyes darkened when Dean spoke poorly of his coworkers and in turn himself, but made no comment on it.

Dean feels the adrenaline slipping away and he mentally curses himself for picking up so many extra shifts this week. He leans his head back and rubs his eyes, “Shit.” When he looks back he’s staring into the bluest eyes he’s ever seen.

He finds himself quickly getting lost in them and Dean doesn’t realize he’s staring until Doctor Novak says something. Dean doesn’t catch what the doctor said and finds himself blurting out, “Sorry, what?”

“Is something wrong?” Doctor Novak’s eyebrows are furrowed and he looks concerned.

“Oh.” Dean grimaces as he realizes he’s cursed in front of a doctor from a completely different unit. By now everyone in the ICU areas are aware of Dean’s rude mouth, but it’s not very professional of him to do it in front of a doctor he’s only just met. Then he remembers everything he called the doctor in the patient’s room. “Sorry. I just remembered that I picked up another shift at three later today.”

“Burning the candle at both ends I see. Not that I’m one to talk. I must have broken at least four state laws getting here, and I normally don’t start for another hour.” Doctor Novak removes his glasses so he can rub his eyes once before placing them back on. “It will be a long day, but it’s worth it.”

Dean couldn’t agree more.

“Are you going to be staying with this patient later today then? I know it’s not your floor, but I have a rather strong feeling this patient is going to be a two on one and will more than likely need a nurse from the burn unit,” the doctor says it casually as if used to saying patients need two nurses to themselves. “Though I suppose we’re still debating if this is going to be treated as a CVICU patient, an ICU patient, or a BURN patient.”

“I don’t know,” Dean shrugs, “I guess it comes down to where Mr. Hiserly ends up.”

Doctor Novak nods and looks past Dean, “I’m sure Mr. Hiserly and his family would like to keep you on his team.”

“Yeah. Well-” before Dean can finish he feels someone grabbing one of the shoulders of his scrubs.

“I heard what the nurses said!” The man talking to him is Mr. Hiserly… or rather the _other_ Mr. Hiserly. “They said you’re the one that saved him.”

Of course they did. Nurses love to gossip. Dean’s certain it’s what they live for.

“I wouldn’t say that it was just me-” and Dean’s cut off again as Mr. Hiserly’s husband pulls him in tightly for a hug.

“Thank you. Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means!” The man is practically sobbing at this point and Dean just lets him cry it out, throwing in an awkward pat here and there. “Because we can’t officially get married in this state… if Evan… if Evan died, we wouldn’t have been able to…”

Dean’s only heard about this. Some same sex couples can’t share benefits with each other. In some cases when something happens, the ‘spouse’ is left with nothing when the family takes everything. It’s horrible to see that a lack of a name and a slip of paper coupled with homophobic and disapproving families can ruin someone’s life. It’s bad enough losing a loved one, but to add all that to the mix just seems heartless.

That’s when it hits Dean that Doctor Novak, or rather Castiel, seemed just as concerned for the patient as he was and that the relief on his face Dean saw was genuine. Either the guy is a new doctor, or Castiel becomes as emotionally invested in patients as Dean does. If he’s new, he’ll learn real quick, but if he’s like Dean he’s in for a world of hurt. Dean’s never been able to distance himself from the patients like most can, and he can tell it’s slowly eating him away. All the patients that have been lost on his shift, he’s taken personally. His brother constantly tells him it’s unhealthy and Dean knows it is, but he can’t help but think each one is his fault.

Mr. Hiserly thanks Dean what seems to be several hundred times more before he says he’s going back to wait with his sister who is currently watching the kids.

Dean turns to tell Castiel goodbye, but finds the doctor is already gone. Something inside him twists at the thought of missing him, but Dean blames it on heartburn and laughs at the irony.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Tumblr inspired story. Runner up for the poll I did on what Dean/Castiel fic to write. I liked it enough and I know a fair amount on the subject matter so I decided to give it a go.  
> I blame my best friend for the cheesy title. I have no excuse for the equally cheesy summary.
> 
> All the knowledge I have picked up is second hand from nurses and doctors (I apologize in advance if I get anything wrong. I’m not a nurse nor have I had any actual classes, but I know the environment fairly well as I work at one. Also, if I use jargon and I don’t specify and you don’t know what it means let me know so I can fix it or clarify.
> 
> The painting that was being referred to is this one: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/pictures/13/13346/angel.jpg the color version is here but is really tiny http://www.lilytherese.com/Angel_Guarding_two_children.jpg (Let’s just pretend it doesn’t look like the angel is going to push them and he/she/it is actually making sure the two boys aren’t going to fall… or the fact that I think it’s supposed to be Gabriel.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I didn’t state it in the very beginning, there will NOT be any Major Character Deaths in this story. I personally hate being surprised by it when I’m reading fanfics, so I thought I would extend the same courtesy if it ever happens. That’s the only warning that I will never change in a story, and if it isn’t brought up in the beginning you won’t have to worry about it popping up later. Minor characters I consider free game, however, and I will always put a warning at the beginning of the chapter where it happens.
> 
> Unbeta'd as always or until I can find a beta

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Dean calls the staffing and patient placement office to have the morning manager find him an open room to stay in since he has to be back in less than eight hours. He actually finds himself staying over at the hospital a lot lately. On a good week he picks up the full sixty hours, and during the slower weeks he still manages to get at least thirty because he always wants to work and there’s always people who want off. At first, he was picking up all the extra work for the money to help pay for his as well as Sam’s school loans. Now both brothers are earning a good deal of money and managed to pay everything off within the first four years and still have enough money to have decent living conditions. Dean still works all the extra hours because of a promise he made to himself a year ago.

 

_______________

 

The accident was too much on John, and after a few years of volunteering at their local fire station he finally quit his job to be a firefighter full time. John wasn’t thrilled that Dean was going to school to be a nurse, but he let the issue drop when he still found out that his oldest son was still saving people in his own way, or rather coping in his own way. The two actually found a good system. Whenever there was a bad fire, John would call Dean and let him know how many were coming his way which prepared his unit far in advance. Dean even told John some of the signs to look for on the most critical ones. On more than one occasion John found himself saving people on the spot when the paramedics were running behind.

Unsurprisingly, the burn patient survival rate rose dramatically in their area and eventually became news worthy. “Saving people. Hunting fires. The family business,” became a new motto for the Winchester family according to several news stations and papers.

Not long after that, the media got ahold of the family’s backstory, about Mary. John was furious that the news brought his late wife into the whole mess and wanted nothing more than people to leave them alone. It hurt hearing people retell the story over and over some details completely wrong, others embellished. The news talked about Mary for a week before John lost it and punched a reporter who pushed him too hard for more information about her.

After that things started going downhill. The news, which had held them in a positive light for over a week, suddenly turned against them. Some people were claiming that the family was unstable and John’s outburst was just the tip of the iceberg. Others even started saying that the original fire was their fault and their current positions were just a front. This was the point that Sam finally finished law school and he didn’t waste any time putting it to use. Sam went after the worst of the media personally and after he won he first law suit for the slander and accusations, most notable the death threats that were caused against John and Dean because of poor reporting, things looked like they were going to calm down.

For the most part it did. At least until the drinking started. Sam was continually getting on both his father and his brother’s cases about the bad drinking habits they suddenly picked up from the media fiasco. Nothing seemed to work until the system John and Dean had forged started falling apart. Due to a hangover that John had one morning, he was slow to get to a trapped victim, which resulted in the person getting badly burnt. Needless to say, Dean didn’t get any phone calls that would give him a heads up and the floor was panicked when they got slammed with patients.

Dean wasn’t much better as far as hangovers go that day, but when he saw all of those people come in, he blamed himself for every one of them. He kept telling himself he should have been ready and that their care was slowed down to his own neglect, and then the night he lost his mother came flooding back to him. Dean had a panic attack on the spot and had to be relieved. It was fortunate for Dean that it was one of the days that there was more staff than usual and everyone was accommodated for, but Dean didn’t see it that way.

Bottling himself away, Dean took a week of paid time off to wallow in his mistakes. Everything and everyone was put on hold until his brother Sam had enough. Barging in the house, Sam went up to Dean’s room yelling and literally pulled him out of the bed only to be horrified. His older brother was pale and sickly looking as if he had been lying in bed the whole time. Knowing Dean, he probably had been. The worst part was that Dean wasn’t responding. Sam immediately called for an ambulance and had him taken to the hospital.

When Dean came to, Sam was there waiting with his face resting in his hands. He told Dean that he shouldn’t punish himself for a mistake their dad made, and before Dean could protest Sam said something that changed Dean.

“How can you save anyone if you can’t save yourself? How can you save anyone if you’re _dead_?” Sam’s face was wet and red from tears and if those words hadn’t gotten the point across, then that look on Sam’s face would have.

Dean never wanted to see his brother look like that again, and it wasn’t fair that his breakdown might have caused more than just Sam to grieve. He promised right then, that he wouldn’t allow himself to fall apart like that anymore. Not when so many people were counting on him.

Sure enough, Dean went back and worked harder than ever. He picked up more hours when he could and always came in when he heard they were short-handed. He even started cross training on other floors when it was possible. Eventually, he and Sam approached their father only to find that his actions that day changed him too. John was appalled at himself for letting that happen and ended up making the same promise.

 

_______________

 

It’s only a matter of time before Sam wants to go out and live on his own leaving Dean alone. Their father still technically lives with them, but he gave the boys the house when John decided he was going to just live in at the fire station. He comes over for holidays, but generally stays at the station.

When John does come over, he and Sam constantly get into arguments most of which is about Sam’s job. John says that Sam should be out there saving people’s lives like the rest of the family, and Sam said that he does in different way. Dean is proud of himself when he finally brings the two to a compromise. The hospital needs another lawyer because their size is growing rapidly and he’s also heard a few rumors that their current one is in the process of moving to a different firm.

So now Dean gets to work with his father _and_ his brother, which makes Dean the happiest he’s been in a long time. John and Dean are back to working their system better than ever, and with Sam backing them up on the legal front they feel like they have everything covered.

That’s what Dean keeps telling himself at least. He doesn’t realize how wrong he is when Mr. Hiserly comes into the picture. He’s still just a nurse and while he’s on the floor more often than the doctors are, he doesn’t feel like he knows near enough to save everyone he can. Dean can’t help the nagging feeling that he’s still not good enough.

 

_______________

 

Dean’s mind is all over the place when the alarm on his cell phone goes off. He groans as he rolls out of the hospital bed and bundles up all of his sheets on the bed for housekeeping to care of after he leaves. He notices he’s left the television on overnight and now it’s playing old reruns of “Dr.Sexy M.D.,” which makes him smile. He’ll never admit it to anyone, especially not his brother or his father, but as unrealistic as the show is it’s still his favorite.

After he unplugs his phone from his charger and sets them both away in his emergency overnight bag, he makes his way to the bathroom for a thorough scrub down. He’ll have to wash up again when he gets to his floor, but the more he does now the better.

In the bathroom, he strips down and turns the water on as hot as he can, and once the water is steaming he turns it down a hair so that the water isn’t too scalding. Grabbing the complimentary supplies of soap and shampoo the hospital provides, he jumps in the shower and begins lathering himself up singing as he does so.

The hot spray does wonders on his tight muscles. Last night was hectic even by Dean’s standards, but assuming he gets Mr. Hiserly again and he decides to behave, tonight should be pretty easy. _Mostly_ easy. Dean can’t say he’s looking forward to talking about Mr. Hiserly with his husband, or would be husband if everyone wasn’t so pigheaded about same sex marriage.

Dean has never really seen why it’s a big deal, though he supposes it can be to some. They’re all just labels anyway. Why does it matter who’s doing what with who? Sure, Dean has his own preferences when it comes down to it, but Dean likes to think he’s pretty open on the matter. Though that’s not saying much because he doesn’t really have time to actually date anyone, and the one time he tried it was anyway it was a disaster. He should have known better than to try and date a nurse from his own unit because when things go bad, and boy did it go bad, it makes work uncomfortable for everyone. Not to mention the drama and gossip that accompanies it. The mood didn’t lighten up until she transferred to another hospital.

Then his thoughts wandered over to the new doctor. Dean was surprised to see the doctor so concerned about the patient. It’s not that doctors and nurses don’t care for the patients, but Dean knows that most do the job for the reason of making money. He knows he’s odd by nurse standards or any staff standards, but Dean prefers it that way. With the exception of the eccentric Becky in the staffing office, he’s not sure if anyone else in the hospital works the job with care and well-being of patients as their number one goal and making money second. Then again, Becky is _really_ weird, but Dean wonders if that makes him weird too. The thought that some people are only doing the job for the sole purpose of an income makes his stomach turn, and while it’s understandable considering it _is_ a job after all it still makes Dean hurt.

Turning off the shower, he grabs a towel and quickly dries himself off. He drops the towel to put his clothes and scrubs on and grabs it again to toss it to the pile of blankets on the bed. After putting everything in his bag he takes out his toothbrush and brushes his teeth. By this point he realizes he’s taken a little longer than usual to get ready, most of it spent lost in his thoughts in the shower, but he still has a little over twenty minutes left before he has to clock in for work. Considering he’s already in the building, that’s more than enough time to grab a quick bite at the cafeteria.

As soon as he’s out the door, he’s stopped by one of the nurses from the floor he stayed overnight in, “You know, Mrs. Kingsley would like to know who the man singing in the shower in the room next to hers.” The nurse puts her hands on her hips and smirks at Dean, “It’s the nicest she’s been since she’s gotten here.”

Dean returns the smirk and steps just inside the door of Mrs. Kingsley’s room and is met with an elderly woman in her late sixties resting in her bed. She looks mean as hell until Dean gives her one of his best smiles, “You get better soon, Mrs. Kingsley. And try not to let these guys boss you around.”

The nurse who stopped Dean gives him a look of mock disgust, but can’t help from hiding her laugh. The way her eyes widen in recognition, the patient seems to recognize Dean’s voice right away. “Now why can’t he be my nurse? I didn’t realize there were such good looking male nurses working here, especially not on this floor.”

“Oh, no. You wouldn’t want me as your nurse.” Dean laughs as he readjusts his bag on his shoulder. “I don’t want you looking for an excuse to come to floor either, you hear? I’d hate to see such a lovely lady with a nasty burn.”

“Rascal,” Mrs. Kingsley turns her head slightly away and waves a hand at Dean and he takes that cue for him to leave but not before he shoots her a wink and clinks his cheek.

“You better get out of here before any other ladies see you… or hear you,” the nurse is amused but she’s attempting to be all business now.

“Hey, it’s not my fault they stuck me up here and you guys started getting busy and needing to fill up the rooms.” It’s true. The only reason that Dean was put up on the Woman’s Health floor is because it had been closed temporarily from a low census of patients. Judging by it now, they’re looking pretty close to full.

The nurse shooed Dean off and he made his way to the elevators and off to the cafeteria, but before he got in the elevator his cell phone went off. Instead of getting on the elevator and losing the call he waited outside the stairwell to take the call.

Checking the caller ID, he sees it’s the hospital’s number and he can only assume it’s the morning charge nurse calling to let him know his assignment. Normally Dean just shows up on his floor and gets his assignment there, but every once in a while the charge calls him to let him know he’s being pulled to another unit. That being the case, Dean can already tell he’s going to be put with Mr. Hiserly.

“Dean speaking.” He answers in avoiding his usual joking manner he answers as if he didn’t know who the charge was in the small off chance it’s a supervisor or manager.

“Boy, are you actually behaving for once or did you already start trouble and I just haven’t heard about it yet?”

Deciding to take a chance he gets in the stairwell and walks down the flights to the cafeteria. “Why Miss Moseley, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Don’t sass me, Dean Winchester. I’m calling to ask if you’d be willing to work with Mr. Hiserly again.” He knows better than to laugh, but he can picture his charge getting angry at him for just being polite. “I know he’s been moved to a floor you normally don’t work on so we can’t force you, but the family seems very adamant. Now I don’t know all the details yet, but I think it would be for the best if you would go.”

“Of course. I’m hurt you think I would say anything different, Missouri.” Dean knows that she has to ask, that the charge nurse can’t just assume the nurse will always agree, but she should know him better than that by now.

“Mmhmm.” He recognizes that tone. That’s the ‘I don’t believe a word coming out of your mouth boy’ sound.

“Alright, alright. But I’m serious. I’m on board for anything Mr. Hiserly needs.” Dean’s down at the cafeteria and grabbing a few things as he juggles the food, his phone, and his bag all at once.

“Fine, but you better fill me in on a few details later. I at least want to know why there’s a family thinking you’re an angel sent by God himself, and why there’s a heart doctor of all people asking for you by name.”

Dean can’t help but preen at the compliments, “But, Missouri. I am-”

“So help me boy, if you finish that sentence I will find you and smack that smug look off your face. CVICU, room 3440.” The phone cuts and Dean blinks a few times trying to figure out how she always does that to him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: (this part) homophobia, mentions of cutting/avoiding life support

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

When Dean sits down to eat, he replays the phone call over and over in his head. Sure there have been plenty of times where patients have requested to have the same nurses, but a doctor was new. Usually the doctors only see their patients a few minutes at a time, and they hardly interact with the nurses or the unlicensed assistive personnel (or UAPs also commonly referred to as Techs). He tries passing it off as nothing, for being something related to the strange patient situation they have on their hands, but Dean can’t help but feel like there’s something more to it.

Looking at the doctor the first time, Dean pegged him as any other. Just a doctor just running through the motions of the job and devoid of any kind of emotion or attachment. But it wasn’t true, not for Doctor Novak. At first look he might have seemed that way, but looking closer Dean noticed he spoke volumes with his eyes. The shine in them when the surgery went well, the dark and clouded look when Dean spoke ill of himself and the other nurses, and Dean’s pretty confident he saw a smile in them when the doctor caught sight of Mr. Hiserly’s husband approaching. It’s possible the guy is trying to create a wall, but he’s probably only fooling everyone but himself.

The guy’s handsome, Dean has to give him that one, from what little he can tell. He’s like the one person who can actually rock the bed head look without ever having to actually try and has those crazy blue eyes. Even though Dean thinks he might have a kink for people wearing glasses, those eyes are even more hypnotizing when they’re off. But there’s something else about him. He cares about people, and it’s so rare that Dean actually sees that anymore it’s no wonder that the doctor caught his attention.

Dean continues thinking about Doctor Novak, and eventually it hits him as to why when he slurps up the rest of his juice. His eyes slowly grow wide and he pulls the straw from his lips, “Uh oh.” That’s the last time he falls asleep watching a ‘Dr. Sexy M.D.’ marathon. It’s starting to mess with his head.

He dumps his trash and shoulders his bag suddenly feeling nervous. Dean certainly hopes he’s just overthinking things like usual. The last thing he needs is to be thinking that way about his superior. The less time Dean has to spend with Doctor Novak, the better.

Looking up at the clock, he sees he needs to start making his way over to the heart hospital. He still needs to wash up a few more times before he can go into the isolation room. Alright, he really should stop calling it an iso room because it isn’t. Especially because he’s going to floors where that information shouldn’t be confused. Burn patients are different from most, and need to be put in _reverse_ isolation rooms.

The main difference between an isolation room and a reverse isolation room is the air that is cycled through the room. In isolation rooms, it uses negative pressure and the hospital works to keep infection and contamination from escaping the room. Whereas reverse isolation rooms use positive pressure and want to keep those from coming into the room. Burn patients are more susceptible to infection because of their open wounds, which could be why Dean has to wash up like twenty times a day.

So if Dean is talking about an isolation room on a floor other than his own when he actually means a reverse isolation room, there will definitely be complications.

 

_______________

 

The Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit may look like any other unit to patients and visitors, but to Dean it’s like a whole new world. He finds a time clock and swipes his badge and then goes to the desk to wait for instructions.

There’s a middle aged woman at sitting behind the desk looking completely focused on the charts in front of her and has a phone at her ear. Her hair is long, brown, and wavy and she looks like she could give Missouri a good run for her money. Dean smiles at the fight of seeing the two in an argument.

“You must be Dean,” the woman speaks up still focusing on the charts in front of her and hangs up her phone. “Missouri told me all about you.”

“All good things I hope?” Dean gives her his best smile, the same one that worked on Mrs. Kinsley not that long ago.

She looks up and it’s like Dean’s staring back at Missouri. That’s the ‘Oh, I know all about you and that smile isn’t gonna work on me’ look. Dean’s smile falters a bit and gulps. Why does he always get the scary charges?

“Dean?” A voice comes from down the hall and it’s one that he recognizes.

He turns and sees Jo, one of the hospitals techs smiling in his direction. “Dean, what are you doing here?”

The charge nurse raises an eyebrow, “You two know each other, Jo?”

Jo turns her head to look at the charge as she pulls back and covers her blond locks, “Yeah, I get pulled to the Burn Unit every once in a while to help do dressing changes.”

Sitting back in her chair, the charge crosses her arms and looks moderately interested at Dean, “Oh, so you’re _that_ Dean.” Her eyes narrow and Dean feels a shiver run down his spine, “I’m Ellen. Jo’s mom.”

“Well,” Ellen grabs a chart and hands it to her daughter, “Then you and Dean can work together on that three on one together.”

“Two nurses and a tech for one patient? It’s that bad?” Dean is back in work mode, and he’s already doesn’t like the sound of how things are going.

Ellen sighs and that’s answer enough for Dean.

Jo’s flipping through the chart and stops when she sees something off, “Hey, mom. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but is this right?”

Sighing again, Ellen nods at her daughter, “We’re short staffed again today, even with all the extra people Becky in the staffing office managed to scrounge up. That girl works wonders down there sometimes. Anyway, he was nice enough to fill in this morning after he pushed his patients on two other doctors, and I’ll overlook the budget just so long as we get the extra help.”

“What?” Dean tenses when he hears the floor is shorthanded, but he knows better than to freak out when people need him most. “What’s up?”

Hanging Dean the chart, Jo starts walking off indicating Dean should follow. “His doctor is filling in the other need since we’re so short.”

Crap. Dean was hoping for minimal contact with Doctor Novak, but it seems his bad luck has other plans.

Jo ushers Dean into the staff lounge and shows him where he can leave his bag, “Don’t worry, Dean. He’s a pretty cool guy. A little weird, but cool.”

They both wash up and Jo notices that Dean’s being unnaturally quiet, “Hey, Dean? You alright?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just… thinkin’.” Dean finishes scrubbing down, which is ridiculous because they will have to wash up again before going into the isolation room, and his eyes focus on the floor.

“You? Thinking? That’s scary.” Dean frowns at her and she looks concerned when he doesn’t join her in laughing, “What about?”

Looking for the easiest way to have the subject dropped Dean replies, “Just a lot on my mind lately is all.”

“Well, if you need anyone to talk to Dean…” She looks like she wants to say more, but just trails off hoping Dean will understand.

Dean smiles, but it’s forced, “Thanks, Jo, but I’m good.”

Jo looks at Dean like she doesn’t believe him, but she lets the issue slide. The two leave the lounge in silence and make their way towards room 3440.

 

_______________

 

Jo and Dean step inside the room and see that the doctor, the other nurse, and the other tech are already there waiting for them. The nurse gives report to Dean and the tech gives her report to Jo. In an hour another dressing change should be given. Doctor Novak hasn’t looked up from his book since Jo and Dean have shown up, and a small part of Dean feels disappointed.

“Hey, Doctor Novak,” Jo greets the doctor as she takes a seat, and much to Dean’s annoyance, it’s the one the furthest away from the doctor.

“Good afternoon, Joanna,” he still hasn’t looked up from his book causing him to miss Jo’s annoyed stare for using her full name.

“Uh, hey doc,” Dean says rather lamely and he mentally kicks himself.

To Dean’s surprise Doctor Novak finally looks up from his book at Dean, and there’s that shine in his eyes. His lips don’t show it, but the doctor’s eyes are smiling at least. “Hello, Dean.”

Jo doesn’t miss the odd behavior between the two, and she looks questioningly at Dean. “You two know each other?”

Doctor Novak closes his book and sets it to the side. Then he removes his glasses and starts wiping the lenses with a cleaning rag. “Of course. He was here last night when the code was called.” The doctor is staring back at Dean again and Dean feels like the guy is looking into his soul. “Dean’s the one who believed in Mr. Hiserly when everyone else gave up.”

Content with Doctor Novak’s response, Jo practically beams at Dean. “That was you?”

Dean’s confused and it must be evident on his face because Jo explains, “Everyone’s talking about how this one nurse magically popped out of nowhere and started giving CPR to the patient literally the second they were getting ready to take the T.O.D.” She elbows Dean in the side, “How much of that did they embellish?”

“Uh…” Dean rolls his shoulders and shifts uneasily, “Well, I was at lunch at the time. It’s not like I magically appeared or anything.”

Jo’s jaw drops, “Are you serious? You just burst in there and saved the day?”

Dean backs away from Jo and holds his hands up, “Whoa. I never said that.” Smiling, Dean points to the doctor, “That was all this guy.”

“I beg to differ,” Doctor Novak has gotten up from his chair and stands dangerously close and his eyes locking with Dean’s. “There wouldn’t have been a patient to save if it hadn’t been for you.”

He’s not sure how long they stare at each other, but his stomach leaps into his rib cage when he hears Jo. “Awww. You guys are cute.”

Dean’s flooded with relief when she continues with, “You guys are so modest.”

Doctor Novak opens his mouth to speak, but is interrupted by a knock at the door. Everyone looks over at the door and Jo goes to answer it. A nurse is speaking to Jo and he overhears that the family is here and wants to see how the patient is doing.

This is the part Dean hates, but he stops the doctor and tells him he’ll go talk to them. Doctor Novak seems like he’s going to put up a fight at first, but sighs in resignation when Dean tells him it would be better for him to stay in case anything happened to the patient.

When Dean steps out of the room he’s shocked to see it’s not the family he saw last night. Not only that, but these people don’t look distressed at all. They look bored even. He has a pretty good idea what’s going on here, and Dean’s already decided he doesn’t like these people at all.

There’s six of them in total, two men and a woman about the same age as the patient, two young children, and an elderly woman. Unlike Mrs. Kingsley, this particular woman doesn’t look mean, she looks _heartless_.

“Are you my son’s doctor?” It turns out the woman has a voice to match her cold exterior. Her voice is hard and every word seems to have an edge to it as if talking to Dean was on the same level as talking to vermin. Dean wouldn’t doubt that’s how she saw him.

“I’m afraid he’s busy at the moment, but I’m his nurse. I probably could help answer any questions you have.” Talking to these people are making his stomach churn, but it’s not the first time he’s had to put on a good smile and place nice with nasty visitors.

“Is that right?” He didn’t think it was possible, but her words sound even more venomous now, “What in the world could be more important than talking to the family about his condition?”

He wants to punch her, but he refrains. _Barely_. So instead, he grits his teeth together and forces the smile even further, “Your son, of course.”

Looking at them, he sees each one dressed to the nines. This family must have a lot of money to throw around to look like this. He finds it odd that the family from last night looked nothing like this. A part of him wants to think it’s because they rushed to get to the hospital, but he thinks this might be related to what his patient’s husband was trying to say last night.

One of the two men finally decides to speak up and Dean thinks he likes this man less than the mother. “I’m going to cut right to the chase. Is he going to die?”

“You mean live, right?” He knows better than to let these monsters get to him, but Dean’s temper always was his weak point.

The man seems taken aback, “What?”

“Well, you’re his _family_ ,” Dean makes sure to punctuate the word to match the old woman’s venomous tone form earlier, “and obviously you would want to know if he’s going to be okay, right?” He purposely raises his voice a little for everyone else in the immediate vicinity to hear, “I mean what kind of family would want another family member to _die_.”

It apparently works because other nurses and visitors stop what they are doing to stare at what is going on. Most of them are looking at the family with disgust. The man steps forward and snarls in a low voice at Dean, “Listen here, you piece of garbage-”

“He’ll be just fine.”

Everyone jumps at the new voice that comes from the room behind Dean. Turning around, Dean sees that it’s Doctor Novak. Dean won’t lie. The man standing behind him scares him right now. His eyes are practically glowing with anger and looks like he could smite everyone where they stood.

Dean’s not the only one intimidated by the doctor. The man immediately backs away from Dean, and it’s difficult for the nurse not to laugh at the guy looking like a scared rabbit.

The mother speaks up again, being the first to recover from the shock, “You must be the doctor. I want to be clear that if anything else should happen, we don’t want him being put on life support or-”

“I’ll take that into consideration, and I’ll do everything in my power to see your son to recovery. Now, if you would excuse us. It’s time for Mr. Hiserly’s dressing change, and I need my nurse’s assistance.” Before the mother can reply, Doctor Novak is already back in the isolation room.

Dean sees the family isn’t thrilled with that answer at all, and because he can’t help it, Dean decides to fan the fires a bit more. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go. We’re kind of busy, but if you have any questions I’m sure you can ask your son’s husband.” He doesn’t even wait for their reaction, he just turns and leaves and slams the door behind him.

The smile falls from his face when he sees Jo looking concerned at the doctor. Doctor Novak is standing with his back turned and his hands clenched into tight fists, “I don’t understand how there can be people like that. Don’t they understand the value of a human life? Don’t they see that bringing him this far is a miracle in itself?”

Putting a hand on the doctor’s shoulder, Dean tries to ease Doctor Novak’s anger. “All the more reason to get Mr. Hiserly back on his feet.”

“But if the family files for him to avoid life support or avoid being resuscitated, there’s nothing we can do.” Doctor Novak still sounds annoyed, but his fists loosen and his shoulders drop minutely.

“Well then, we’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Right, Doctor Novak?”

Dean thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him at first, but for the first time since meeting the strange doctor he sees the one thing he’s been dying to see and at the same time dreading.  Although very small, the doctor smiles, “Please. I told you to call me Castiel.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I normally don’t update as quickly as I have been with this story. I started this as something to work on when I’m stuck on my other two fics and art commissions, so I don’t know how long I will keep up on the quick updates. Especially now that I'm going to be hired on at the hospital full time and doubling in patient placement.
> 
> My brother (the same one who wants me to write “Cas vs. Oberon over who gets Dean’s sweet, sweet ass” fic) says I need to have Dean in the typical sexy nurse outfit at some point. I’m still not quite sold on the idea yet. Thoughts on that or any other suggestions on anything really are more than welcome.
> 
> Many thanks to my new beta, dorian_is_a_dick, for reviewing this chapter for me!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The dressing changes go without any difficulties and Dean is amazed at Mr. Hiserly's strength. His chances of survival were already dangerously low before the cardiac arrest and the risk of infection when he was removed from the reverse isolation room. According to the numbers now, Mr. Hiserly's chances of recovery are virtually non-existent. Yet here is, still in a medically induced coma, but alive and in what Dean can only describe as a stable condition.

Dean won't pass it off as a miracle. He doesn't believe in them and he stopped believing in God a long time ago. First he wants to see if his patient recovers, then he might rethink the whole miracle thing.

It doesn't seem to deter Dr. Novak though, or he should say Castiel. Dean's never been on a first name basis with any doctor so he's still hesitant about calling the doctor by his first name, and what an odd name it is. The name sounds familiar to Dean, but nothing comes to mind. He decides he's probably just heard it somewhere and drops the thought.

Castiel seems more bothered by the last family than Dean does, and Dean can't help but wonder if there's more to it. He wants to ask about it, but after Castiel takes the patient's vitals and administers another dosage of medicine he returns to his book without saying a word.

The rest of the shift goes by fairly quickly, which is unsurprising since it was only an extra four hour shift. Between Dean thinking about the patient, the doctor, and the two completely different families he's been distracted enough to run on auto pilot until the new team arrives to relieve them.

Dean is the first to finish report with his relief and leaves the room to go get his bag and leave for the day, but stops half way down the hall when he sees Mr. Hiserly's partner. Dean can't stand that word, but he's not sure what else to call him and it's the only thing he has to go on. The man's by himself today and he looks awful. His eyes are bloodshot from either lack of sleep or recent crying and have dark circles. He hasn't bothered to shave and a rough five o'clock shadow is present and his skin is paler than it was the night before. Even as disheveled the man is, he recognizes Dean immediately and quickly walks over to the nurse.

"How is he?" Before Dean can answer, the man continues and the man's expression morphs from panicked to blank. "Please, don't sugarcoat it. I can take it."

As much as Dean wants to give the man good news or at least some comfort, he knows he needs to tell this man the truth. Dean takes a deep breath and sighs before he begins what is going to be a difficult conversation, "It doesn't look promising. He's doing well enough right now, but there are a lot of factors that can be problematic." The man is hanging on every word Dean says, and it kills the nurse to say these things, to shatter any kind of hope the man holds in his heart, "When Mr. Hiserly went into cardiac arrest his heart had stopped for well over the four minute mark before I arrived in the room. There's also the fact Doctor Novak had to remove him from the reverse isolation room to get him to emergency surgery. By doing that, we've greatly increased the possibility of infection to his severe burns." Dean takes another deep breath as he continues when he sees the man's eyes start to water, "If he manages to make it through all of those complications, there's a good possibility that he will suffer from some sort of neurological damage because his heart and breathing had stopped for so long."

The man looks down and Dean can hear him sniffing, but he is not reacting as badly as Dean expected. His eyes are glassy, but he's not crying and he looks like he's steeling himself for the worst. "But there's a chance he could still be okay?"

He's still clinging to what little hope he has left and Dean knows it's hard, and he's not about to take it away until they can be certain. "There's always a chance." Dean pats the man on the shoulder a few times and smiles softly, "It's all you can do for him right now. Don't give up on him yet, no matter how small, there is always hope."

Mr. Hiserly's partner huffs a laugh and he looks up to Dean, his eyes rimmed in red and brimming with tears, "You're right. I haven't given up on him yet. Why should I start now?" Dean's about to walk away when the man speaks up again, "Will you be back tomorrow? The kids wanted to thank you too. For everything you've done for our family."

Family. Dean stops and pauses a moment to collect himself before giving more bad news. He turns around and he sees Jo and Castiel standing beside the door watching the conversation, but unwilling to interrupt, "I'm afraid there's something else I need to tell you."

At that Castiel steps forward and clears his throat to get the others' attention. "Actually, that's quite alright Dean. Seeing as I'm the patient's doctor I should be the first to tell Mr.-"

The man startles at the doctor's sudden appearance, "Oh, uh. Please, call me Will."

Castiel nods and then places his glasses in his shirt pocket, "Will," The name sounds almost foreign on Castiel's tongue and his voice drops even lower than usual, "I regret to inform you the Mr. Hiserly's family came to the hospital today, and his mother filled that he should not be put on life support should the need arise, or if he should code again to not be resuscitated."

Will suddenly looks furious, and out of habit Dean pushes himself between the man and Castiel. He doesn't think Will's the kind of guy, but there's been numerous occasion where the families of patients gets violent towards the staff members that had to inform the family of bad news. Luckily for them, Will doesn't make a move other than shake in fury, "Those bastards actually showed up?'

"I take it you don't like them," Dean doesn't think it's possible for anyone to like that family but he says it regardless.

"I've never met them, but to be perfectly frank I don't want to. The only thing Ted has said about them is that they threw him out once he told them we were in a relationship." Will affirms Dean's assumptions that the family had disowned Mr. Hiserly without warning or help thereafter. "They have all the control over whether he lives or dies, but they don't care about him at all! They'd rather see him dead than be with another man?" Will is trying his best not to yell, but it sounds as if he's on the verge of a panic attack.

Dean puts both hands on Will's shoulders and calls out softly a few times to make sure he has Will's attention, "Hey. Hey, hey. Believe me when I say everyone else here thinks those guys are heartless bastards, but we have to stay strong. We can't let those assholes win. Not when we've still got a chance in this."

Will nods and has calmed down. He takes a deep breath before he finally asks, "Can I see him?"

Dean bites the inside of his cheek, "Now, seein' as you two aren't legally married and it'd be against the rules of the hospital to let someone that isn't an immediate family member in the ante room, let alone right next to his bed," Will deflates but Dean continues on, "I guess we can let ya in."

Looking over at Jo he signals her in the direction of where her mother is standing giving report, "Jo go work your magic." Then he turns back to Will, "We gotcha covered buddy."

Will smiles and hugs Dean, "Thank you." After he lets go he steps up to Castiel and puts out his hand, but immediately decides against it and pulls the doctor in for a hug as well. Castiel stands stiff as a board and glances around the hallway with a perplexed and slightly afraid look in his eye. Dean laughs at the sight of the doctor losing his cool over a simple hug, and Will finally lets go when Ellen calls him over. Jo hops back over with a large smile on her face and winks at Dean who returns the smile giving her a thumbs up.

"So I dunno about you guys, but I'm starving!" Dean's already walking towards the coworker lounge. "You guys want to grab a bite down at the cafeteria before we call it a day?"

Castiel looks hesitant, but Jo continues smiling and grabs him by the coat and tugs him towards the lounge. "I'm pretty hungry too, and I'm pretty sure Doctor Novak hasn't eaten anything since he's been here."

Dean grabs his bag and clocks out, "Well, Doc?"

Jo releases her grip on Castiel and clocks out after Dean. She grabs her own bag as Castiel stands where she left him, "I-" He's cut off by a large grumble and both Jo and Dean look over at Castiel with wide eyes. The doctor shifts awkwardly on his feet, "Apologies. Joanna is correct. I haven't had anything to eat and it would be a poor example on my patients if I didn't eat at least something today."

"You call me Joanna one more time, and I will not be held accountable for my actions." Jo is glaring at Castiel again, but Castiel doesn't appear to be phased by it.

"Guys. Guys! No need to fight. Let's just head on down while the foods still lukewarm." The trio makes their way to the elevator and a few of the nurses nearby stare at them curiously. Dean laughs to himself understanding why they're getting odd looks. "Man, I feel like I'm part of a joke." Jo looks angry at the comment and Castiel simply looks confused while Dean continues, "A doctor, a nurse, and a tech walk into an elevator…" Jo rolls her eyes at Dean who continues laughing at his own joke, "Oh, come on! You have to admit we're the weirdest group walking around together." He's half joking, but the other half of Dean is hating the social hierarchy the hospital puts up. Nurses tend to still with other nurses, but rarely with nurses from other floors, techs tend to focus on staff from their own floor, and doctors… well Dean's not certain. He figured they all hung out together, but he's pretty certain there's another completely different system on there. Dean can't stop himself from wondering where Castiel falls in that line. He seemed hesitant at first, but Dean doesn't feel like it's because he thought he was better than the others.

They all walk into the cafeteria and separate to get their varying food and drinks. Once they all pay for their meals they grab a table near the windows. Dean laughs at the food Castiel decided on, "Dude! I can't believe you got a cheeseburger."

Castiel's eyebrows furrow questioningly, "I don't understand. Why is that funny? You got the same thing I did."

"No, but, like you're a heart doctor! I would expect you to get the salad, not Jo. Re meat and all." Dean continues laughing as he adds ketchup to his burger and fries.

Jo seems to have caught on and smirks, "Well, obviously you don't know us very well. Just because we work in the heart hospital doesn't mean we eat like your health nut of a brother."

"Says the girl eating the salad," Dean scoffs and throws a salt packet at Jo.

She throws it back at him twice as hard with a frown, "I wanted something light today, jackass. Besides, if you think this is bad, you should visit on 'Taco Tuesdays.' You want to talk about greasy food, wait til' you've tried one of those."

Dean and Jo laugh and carry on talking about general things, about Sam, and they even gossip about patients they had before Mr. Hiserly who remain unnamed. Castiel for the most part seems content to just listen. Once their meals have been finished, Castiel finds himself in the middle of Dean and Jo's conversation.

"So, Cas," Dean is pointing a fry in Castiel's direction as he turns his attention to the doctor.

"Cas?" The doctor's head tilts as his looks curiously at Dean.

"Oh. Sorry. I guess it slipped." Dean drops the fry on his plate and rubs the back of his neck unsure of what to say. He doesn't know where the nickname came from, or why he thought it would be appropriate to give the doctor one.

Castiel seems to pick up on Dean's dilemma and speaks up again after an uncomfortable beat of silence, "No, it's alright. I'm actually surprised that no one has given me that nickname before."

The staring started again and Dean knows he needs to stop, but he's gotten lost in those blue orbs again. He catches himself letting his eyes fall to Castiel's lips and quickly snaps out of his trance, hoping the doctor didn't catch Dean doing that. "So… anyway. I have to ask. Are like you and Jo a thing?"

Jo nearly spits her drink and bursts out laughing, "Oh my God! Are you serious, Dean? What the hell?"

Dean looks his best to be offended, but he's too busy trying to ignore the part of him that's relieved he isn't a third wheel. "What?"

"What in the world gave you  _that_  idea?" Jo is still laughing and Castiel looks as lost as ever. "No, we just work together a lot. You know, since we work in the same care center?"

Castiel's eyes widen slightly in realization, "Oh, you meant if Joanna and I are sexually involved with each other?"

Dean and Jo's eyes look as if they might pop out of their sockets, and Jo suddenly loses it. She bursts into hysterical laughter, kicking her feet in her seat. People around them start staring and it's a minute before Jo can compose herself. She wipes tears from her eyes and then fans her face with her hands, "Why? Are you interested?"

He's not sure how to respond. Dean knows Jo isn't referring to herself because all they ever did was flirt and in the end decided to just be friends. Now Dean's determined to keep it that way considering how scary her mother is. Neither of them wanted to chance it not working out and causing issues whenever Jo had to be on the floor and work with Dean. But why is Jo asking him that kind of question and in front of a  _male_  superior who could take offense and easily get them both reprimanded? She probably knows him a lot better than Dean does and Castiel might assume she means herself, but that doesn't do anything to calm his nerves.

Dean's mouth opens a couple of times and has no luck in getting anything other than awkward stuttering. His answer seems to take too long and Jo's eyes slowly grow having figured out the answer on her own. She looks between the two a few times and bites her lip unsure what to do to change the subject.

He's on his own to change the subject or think of something to deflect the comment. Usually he's really good at it, but right now he's at a complete loss. Dean finally thinks he's saved when Castiel speaks up, but what he hears next only throws him off more, "I am utterly indifferent to sexual orientation."

"Oh," Jo and Dean both reply lamely.

Castiel looks between Jo and Dean and then down at the tray in front of him when he sees that the tension has only gotten worse "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Dean's uncomfortable, but not in the way Castiel thinks he might be. Now, he's trying to keep a million other thoughts away and it's proving difficult. "No, man. You didn't make us uncomfortable. You just caught us off guard is all." He catches Jo's face slowly forming a smile and he kicks her under the table when she's grinning largely.

Jo's smile disappears instantly and is followed by a kick of her own. Dean winces, and Jo gets up from the table to put up her tray and trash. Great. Now she's punishing him by leaving him alone with the doctor.

"If I heard correctly, you said you had a brother?" Castiel seems to have no problem in letting the subject drop, though his eyes look sad that Jo left the table without saying a word.

Dean beams. He has no problem talking about his little brother, "Yeah. His name's Sam and he works here too, and don't worry about Jo. She's mad at me. Not you."

"But why would she be mad at you?" Dean can tell he's getting suspicious and he needs to think fast before he slips up and gives himself away.

He decides to take the easiest out he can think of, "Well, you know how women are." He's just glad Jo isn't there to hear it because he'd probably get hit again and with a lot more force. Not only that, but Castiel doesn't look like he's buying it. "Anyway, Sammy is actually is one of our hospital's lawyers. He really works his tail off for this place sometimes."

"It must be a trait that runs in the family." Castiel doesn't say it like a question, he says it's like it's a cold, hard fact and doesn't doubt the words he's said at all. Sure Dean has gotten praise for his work before, but never with such conviction. It's almost like the doctor  _reveres_  Dean. Like Dean is the most fascinating and wonderful thing he's seen, and it's too much for him.

"I, uh." Dean clears his throat and shifts in his chair, "Yeah, well thanks for having lunch with the lower beings." He doesn't miss how Castiel frowns at that. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow depending on what the charge wants?"

Dean tries to ignore the small hurt look on Castiel's face, but he needs to get away. It's been a long couple of days and he needs to get home and get his head under control. He's not used to people focusing on him and he knows he's doing what he always does when this happens. He's pushing them away. There's been too many times where he's let people close and has only hurt him in the end. Dean's not sure if he can do it again.

He knows he's a coward for running away, but he can't help it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Taco Tuesdays was a small reference to Mystery Spot. Also, I know for a fact the majority of hospital staff does not eat healthy even given their occupation. I personally got to attend homemade taco night in our heart hospital one evening. It was delicious.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/Ns: Anyone have problems with slow builds? I think I’m obsessed with them (more like it’s the only thing I am capable of writing. I already know I cannot write PWP). I can try and speed things up if people want though.  
> Friendly reminder that I love making things awkward, so be prepared for lots of that. I know most people like/prefer fluff, but it seems so OOC to me with these characters, so instead I make everything awkward and dramatic.
> 
> Once again, thanks to dorian_is_a_dick for beta’ing!!!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

It’s hard to avoid someone when you find out you’re working with them again the next day. It’s even worse when you’re pretty certain that the third person you’ll be stuck with all day is catching on to what’s going on.

That’s what happens when Dean shows up the following morning at seven. It’s Missouri’s day off so Kali is charge instead, but Dean still ends up getting put on the same assignment as before. When he shows up on CVICU, Ellen passes him a folder, and he sees he’s working with Castiel and Jo again. If Castiel is still filling in for nurse needs, the hospital must still be shorthanded. Dean thinks the heart hospital is just lucky to have such a considerate doctor and that the burn unit’s census is so low.

Surprisingly, Jo and Castiel don’t say anything about yesterday. In fact, neither of them say anything when Dean walks in the room and gets report. Castiel is reading his book, and Jo gives Dean a knowing look before she stares off into space again. The day seems to drag, so when it comes for Mr. Hiserly’s first dressing change of the day, Dean is thankful for the distraction.

Dean has a twelve hour work day today, but he knows it will seem longer. After dressing changes, Jo and Dean take their seats in the ante room and Jo goes for her cell phone and starts texting. Dean looks over Castiel’s shoulder trying to figure out what kind of book he is reading, but he finds he knows more than the genre. In fact, he knows this book better than most, “Dude! You read Vonnegut?”

Jo looks up from texting on her phone and Castiel turns his head to look at Dean **,** “When time permits. I assume you are familiar with him?”

Dean scoots his chair closer to Castiel’s, who seems unbothered by the intrusion to his personal space. Jo rolls her eyes at Dean who looks about as excited as a little boy talking about his favorite superhero,

“Well, I don’t own very many books but I do own all of his.”

Castiel is slightly taken aback by the sudden intrigue and excitement buzzing from the nurse, but Jo just goes back to texting. She knows Dean’s going to geek out on them and she knows to stay out of it. Between taking vitals, one more dressing change, and talking to the doctor about Vonnegut Dean’s completely forgotten about lunch and it’s the end of his 12-hour shift.

When Dean sees that it’s five minutes until seven in the evening, he can’t believe his eyes. The first part of his shift felt like years, but just talking to Castiel made time fly by. Then he realizes that the doctor has been with him almost the whole time. He noticed Jo left once around noon for about thirty minutes, so he assumes that’s when she took her break, but the doctor only left the room once for a couple of minutes to use the restroom. Suddenly Dean feels awful about making Castiel miss his lunch in addition to listening to Dean go on and on about a writer. It doesn’t matter that Castiel looked like he was enjoying the conversation and even talking back, Dean never forgives himself for making someone miss a meal.

Dean’s about to ask Castiel if he wants to grab a bite down at the cafeteria again but is cut off by knock at the door. It’s his replacement. He figures he can give a proper report and still be able to talk to the doctor after he finishes. However, it turns out his relief is a relatively new nurse and needs direction on everything. Giving report takes over thirty minutes, and when Dean finally finishes he’s certain that the doctor has already left for the day.

He grabs his bag from the lounge and clocks out a bit deflated. Dean hasn’t had so much fun talking to anyone like this in years, and he already feels like he’s messed up somehow because that’s just what he does.

Jo’s hanging around the nurse station with Ellen as her mother gives report. When Dean passes by, he catches her throwing him a smirk and wanders off in the direction of the staff lounge. Dean pauses confused for a moment before continuing to make his way to the elevators, and stops again when he sees Doctor Novak standing in the visitor lounge by the elevators. Castiel looks up and their eyes lock, and Dean can’t seem to be able to move.

Castiel does what Dean is starting to consider his trademark confused head tilt, and Dean is finally able to break free from his immobilization. Trying to bring back the excitement from the conversation they had before, Dean makes his way over to the doctor. “Hey, Cas.”

“Hello, Dean.” Part of Dean wants to believe that Castiel was waiting for him, but why would he? Dean’s doubt is what surprises him when the doctor follows behind the nurse to the elevators. “I seem to have gotten wrapped up in our previous conversation and forgot my last meal, and I’m fairly certain you missed yours as well. Did you want to continue where we left off down in the cafeteria?”

Dean laughs and he can’t determine if it’s because of his luck coming through for once or the peculiar way the doctor asked Dean to join him for dinner. “Yeah. Sure man. Let’s go get some grub. I’m starving!”

 

____________________

 

 Once the two men have their meals, they sit at the same table they did the day before. Dean notices that Castiel has a cheeseburger again and can’t help but comment, “Cheeseburgers again, Cas? Don’t get me wrong. I love them too, but you’re going to give yourself a heart attack if that’s all you eat.”

“They’re not the only thing I eat. Besides,” Castiel takes a large bite and chews a few times, smiling “these makes me very happy.”

“Whatever you say happy meal,” Dean laughs again as he tucks into his own meal.

The two continue their discussion about Vonnegut in between bites, and Dean doesn’t notice a familiar red head sneaking up behind him. Dean stops talking the moment two small, slender hands snake around and cover his eyes,

 “Guess who?”

He knows exactly who it is if that sing song voice is anything to go by, but plays along.

“Bethany? Suzy? Molly? Jaime? …Peter?”

At the last name Dean can see again as the hands are pulled away and one smacks him hard in the shoulder,

“Peter? Really, Dean?”

The girl who sits next to Dean doesn’t look amused, but Dean knows her better than that.

“Oh hey, Charlie! You were my next guess.”

“Yeah, yeah. Very funny. So Jo says you’re having a geek out and you didn’t invite me?” She’s pouting now and Dean hates it when she does that. It’s almost as bad as when Sam does it. Though it drops the moment she’s trying to find her way into weaseling into the conversation.

“So, come on. Fill me in. What’s on today’s nerd agenda?”

He’s not sure when the two of them went from being coworkers to close friends, and he wonders if they hadn’t been from the beginning. Dean likes to portray himself as one of the cool and more popular nurses, but deep down he’s probably just as big of a geek as Charlie is. The only people who know that though is Charlie, his brother, and the handful of kids that come through the burn unit. He’s not ashamed of the fact, he just doesn’t have the need to flaunt it around like Charlie does. That is, unless he thinks he’s making a really funny joke.

Dean smiles. He knows Charlie isn’t going to be expecting this one, “Me n’ Cas here were talking about Vonnegut and were arguing over which one is his best.”

Charlie’s smile disappears. She wasn’t expecting that one. She takes the time to look across the table and recognize Castiel for the first time. Charlie looks back at Dean and without bothering to hide it she mouths a ‘Wow’ at him. She then leans across the table to stick out her hand in Castiel’s direction, “Hi. I’m Charlie. A.K.A. The one who’s always saving Dean’s skin.”

Dean slouches in his chair, already knowing she’s going to tell Castiel ever embarrassing story she can think of. So much for his discussion with Castiel (and his dignity for that matter).

Sure enough, Castiel is playing right into her hands,

“What do you mean always saving Dean?”

He knows that smile, and Dean hates it whenever he sees it on her face,

“Well, you may or may not know this, but I’m actually one of the head people in charge of I.T. Dean here is a bit… well let’s just say that you shouldn’t let him anywhere near your computer unless you’re planning on using it as a paper weight.”

“That was one time, Charlie. One time!” Dean’s been trying to keep from encouraging her, but she still knows how to push all of his buttons just right.

Charlie rounds to look at Dean, looking like she’s having the time of her life.

“Oh, really? So those other four times you called me when you got the blue screen of death was you pulling my leg?” She holds up her hands and looks up at the ceiling as if suddenly remembering something, “Oh, oh! And what about those times that you dropped your phone. Before you answer that one, let me remind you I was actually there when you somehow managed to drop your zone phone down the stairwell of the topmost floor.”

She snickers when as she looks back at Castiel, “You should have seen his face. We watched it fall all the way down, and when I looked at Dean he looked like he couldn’t believe it happened. Then he did this cute thing with his face where he rolls his eyes up at the ceiling and his jaw clenches.” Charlie points excitedly at Dean’s face, “Oh, look he’s doing it now! So anyway, his phone shattered into a million, itty bitty pieces and-”

“Charlie!” Dean knows he’s lost again when she quickly grabs Dean’s drink and starts slurping away on it, smirking as she does so.

Dean sighs and decides to ignore her for the time being turning to focus back on Castiel, “She’s the little sister I never wanted.”

Although he’s incredibly embarrassed at the moment, Dean decides it’s alright. Castiel is sitting there looking the most amused Dean has ever seen him. While that isn’t much considering he’s only know him a few days and most of that time was spent working, it still makes Dean smile.  Loud slurping brings him back to his annoying pest, and he sends her a glare.

The glare is ignored as Charlie jumps in her seat and reaches in her back pocket to pull out her cell phone and immediately starts texting. That’s when it hits Dean. Jo was texting earlier, and Charlie had mentioned that they were gossiping with each other. More importantly, about _Dean_. Based on Jo’s reactions from yesterday, he can assume what it’s about.

Dean reaches over to snatch the phone from Charlie, but she catches his quick movement out of the corner of her eye and immediately pulls it away and as far out of reach as she can. He’s surprised at her strength, especially with her being so tiny compared to him. It doesn’t help that’s she’s managed to wedge her legs between them and is using them to push herself away from Dean’s grip.

“Gib me da’ phone Charlie!” Charlie’s left foot is pressing into his cheek, pushing his face to the side and her right foot is pressing hard into his sternum.

Castiel, on the other hand, watches wide-eyed with several other staff members and visitors as Dean and Charlie fight for control of the phone. He clears his throat when he realizes the two have an audience and that this is not what one would consider proper work etiquette. It falls on deaf ears, however, and the fighting continues until Dean decides he’s going to play dirty and starts tickling Charlie.

The tactic works favorably and Charlie loosens her grip on the phone. So much that it hits the floor with a loud crack. Dean winces when he hears the sound of the plastic crunching on the hard tiled floor and the murderous look in the red head’s eyes.

The two release each other and Charlie continues staring Dean down, “Tell me that did not just happen. Please tell me you didn’t break _another_ phone.”

Dean can’t help but smile sheepishly and shrug his shoulders slightly.

Charlie reaches back and picks up her phone to find the entire screen of her iPhone shattered, and then holds it directly in front of Dean to show him the damage. Everyone who is watching suddenly looks away as if not wanting to be brought in to what is about to happen, Castiel included.

Apparently Dean hasn’t mastered the puppy eyes if Charlie’s death glare is the first clue. He sighs again, noting that he does this a lot when he has to deal with Jo or Charlie and wonders if they’re rubbing off on him. “Alright, I’ll buy you a new one.” He knows he can easily afford one with all the extra hours he’s been picking up, but has a feeling she’s not going to drop this easily.

“No,” Dean double takes at her response. “You’re going to have to do better than that this time. Game Night.”

Dean hates where this is going already, “Charlie, I already said-”

She sticks the phone right in his face again, “Game Night and I’m not taking no for an answer this time.” Charlie stands up from her seat and narrows her eyes as she points a finger at Dean, “I expect to have your work schedule by tomorrow.” She starts walking away, still keeping her eyes trained on Dean and points in Castiel’s direction. “You can bring your friend.”

Once she’s out of sight, Dean lets his forehead drop to the table beside his tray.

 

_______________

 

Charlie grins once she’s out of the cafeteria. Her plan went _perfectly_. She tosses the broken phone in her Harry Potter messenger bag and pulls out her phone. Her _real_ phone. She’s glad she kept her old one, the very phone Dean broke sometime last summer. Charlie’s surprised that Dean didn’t realize why Charlie had an old, outdated phone which looked suspiciously like her old one, but maybe he was too freaked out at the time to have noticed. He should know her better than that. Of course she’s going to have the newest, shiniest phone. But then again, maybe she’s just an awesome actor.

She starts typing away, sending the news to Jo about everything that happened.

 

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	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, as of this moment, I am going to do my best to stick to a weekly update on Thursdays. I might post a day early depending on my beta, Dorian_is_a_dick.

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“What’s Game Night?” Castiel asks curiously as he stares off to where the strange red head retreated off to.

Dean uses his hands to slide his tray away before letting his head thump hard against the table surface. He groans at the fact Charlie finally managed to get something on Dean and use it coerce Dean into joining her Game Night. She’s been pushing him on the matter for the past year, and he’s always found a way to weasel out of it.

Until now.

Damn Jo. He can already tell those two are up to no good, and while Charlie seems to have gotten what she wanted, he’s not sure what Jo gets out of this, aside from more juicy gossip with Charlie that is. The girls were bad enough separately, but the thought of them teaming up against Dean together actually frightens him. It could be worse though. There’s no telling what mayhem those two can come up with should they ever decide to team up with that weird Becky girl down in the staffing office. Dean’s only met her once, but that was certainly enough for Dean. Eccentric doesn’t even _begin_ to start describing the girl, and he’s heard the stories of when Sam comes down to the office when he has to consult with the managers.

“Dean? Are you alright?” Castiel pushes softly, edging on concern at Dean’s sudden change in attitude. He’s not sure if it’s due to what happened, or if Dean is sick and needs medical attention. When Dean doesn’t respond Castiel’s worry builds and he not so much rushes as more glides over to Dean’s side.

Castiel kneels beside Dean and places a hand on his shoulder carefully gauging Dean’s reactions. “Dean. Talk to me. Are you alright?”

This seems to get a response, and Dean lifts his head realizing he’s not alone. Dean sees that the doctor is staring very intensely at him and so close Dean can pick up the scent of the other man’s aftershave and the faint traces of the sanitizers and rubbing alcohols they use to wash up with. He finds himself unable to move and staring back oddly enough.

Castiel’s inner worries fade away when Dean raises his head to look at him and is about to say something only to be cut off by a loud bang on the table.

Dean startles at the sound, breaking eye contact to spin around and glare at whoever caused it. The anger quickly fades away when he realizes that it’s his younger brother Sam who is sporting one of his best ‘bitch faces’ at Dean.

“Heya, Sammy. What’s got you all riled up this time?”

“You actually.” Sam lets the nickname slide this time as there are more important matters at hand. “You and-” he pauses and sees Castiel kneeling what he considers freakishly close to his brother. Sam blinks a few times in confusion, but quickly recovers and points in the doctor’s direction. “I’m assuming this is Doctor Novak?”

Castiel stands up looking curiously at Sam before things start to fall in place in his mind. “You’re Dean’s brother.”

Sam stutters a few times feeling slightly embarrassed for the scene he’s causing in front of a doctor he’s never met not to mention everyone in the cafeteria who may be watching.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, um.” Sam sticks out his hand awkwardly to shake hands. His hand slowly drops when Castiel doesn’t make a move to return the gesture and continues staring at Sam instead.

“Anyway. Do you two have a moment?” Sam looks around the cafeteria as if worried about any audience they might be attracting.

The doctor turns to look at Dean who shrugs and then grabs his tray. Castiel grabs his own tray as Dean begins making his way to the kitchen conveyor belt with his brother,

“Yeah, I think so. Me an’ Cas were just finishing up.”

Sam looks at his older brother as if he had grown a second head. He’s never heard of Dean making friends with any of the doctors, and especially not ones he could be so casual with to be on a first name basis so quickly. He assumes it’s quickly because Sam’s never heard of the guy until now, and Dean’s making it sound like they’re the best friends. Not only that, but this is a doctor from a different care center and Dean’s hardly been outside his own. He’s starting to think that this whole may have something to do with Dean’s assignment, which is bad enough as it is.

Once the three grab their belongings and find an empty office, Sam has them both sit down and decides to jump right into the problem at hand.

“I don’t know the whole story yet, so maybe you two can fill me in. What in the world happened with the Hiserly family today?”

Some kind of nerve must have been struck because both Dean and Castiel are sitting up tall in their seats. Sam’s not familiar with Castiel, but he can read Dean like a book. His body’s tense, his jaw is twitching as his teeth clench tightly together, and his eyes darken. Sam’s seen this happen one other time and it ended badly. “Okay, so I can tell you don’t like the family, but can you just place nice so they don’t file any more complaints?”

“You don’t know these people, Sam.” Dean can’t help but snarl and his voice is deep and resentful, “They’re more monster than human.”

Sam sighs knowing that this is going just the same as last time. Dean emotionally attaches himself to every patient he has, and in some cases the families of the patients are more desperate to be rid of them than they are to save them. Needless to say, Dean despises every one of them he comes across not than Sam is any different, but at least he’s better at hiding it. Dean doesn’t even try to hide his disgust sometimes and the last time a complaint was filed, Dean lost it and ended up getting into a huge argument with the family, which in turn almost cost him his job.

“Can you at least try to reason with them, Dean?” Sam’s more sympathetic than Dean gives him credit, but he just wishes Dean can see that he’s just trying to help Dean avoid getting fired. He knows that it’s Dean’s life and would be crushed if he ever lost his job. It never seems to stop Dean from trying to, however.

“There’s no reasoning with these… _things_ , Sam!” Dean’s yelling now and part of Sam is glad he’s getting to vent his anger out now instead of later in front of the family. “They’re cold and heartless, and it’s pretty clear that they’re just waiting for this poor guy to die so they can take his money. Sorry, but I’m doing everything I can to do to save this guy because, oh I don’t know, it’s my damn job!”

Sam sighs again and turns to see if Castiel can do anything to calm his hot-headed brother down, but only finds him staring at Dean again. The way he’s watching Dean actually makes Sam feel a bit uncomfortable and causes Sam to shift in his seat.

The movement catches the doctor’s attention and he finally turns to look at Sam, and Sam suddenly wishes he hadn’t. He’s never seen this kind of expression before, and even though he still appears relatively blank, his eyes are dark and something about the man’s presence scares the young lawyer right down to his core.

Sam comes to the conclusion that Dean isn’t the one the family should be worried about.

Just as quickly as it came, the venomous look fades away into a very small frown as if Castiel realized that it was being directed at the wrong person. Castiel removes his glasses and uses his white doctor’s coat to start cleaning them as Dean continues yelling about the Hiserlys.

Once Dean has finished, or rather yelled until he was out of breath, Sam takes the opportunity to get this conversation back where it needs to be.

“I’ll agree that they aren’t exactly the friendliest people to be around,” Dean huffs a laugh indignantly and Sam brushes it aside to continue, “but this could jeopardize both of your jobs. You have to know that, right? Dean, you know I hate playing the bad guy here, but for everyone’s sake, including the hospital, you have to play nice with them for the time being.”

“Everyone except the patient you mean,” Dean’s arms are crossed and his face is scrunched up in a scowl. He doesn’t appear like he’s going to give up this argument any time soon. Sam gets up from his chair and walks over to Dean,

“At least try. Please.” He pats Dean’s shoulder who shrugs it off, and Sam hovers awkwardly for a moment before he gives up and leaves to give his brother some time to cool down and he nods to Castiel once before he exits the room. The doctor nods back before returning his focus on Dean.

As soon as Sam is gone, Dean bangs his hands on the table in front of him and quickly pushes himself out of his seat causing the chair to tip over and fall to the floor. He runs calloused hands over his face groaning loudly against them and slides them back to run them through his short hair. Dean grabs the closest thing at hand and throws it harshly against the small office wall. Pens and pencils fly in several directions and the plastic cup bounces off the wall and rolls on the floor. He’s thankful it wasn’t something more breakable. He doesn’t even know whose office this is and would feel terrible if he broke someone else’s belongings.

Dean runs his hands through his hair again and kneels down to pick up the mess he’s just made, but he stops when he hears someone speak up.

“Leave it.” It’s Castiel. “I can worry about it later.”

That’s when it hits Dean that this must be Castiel’s office. It makes sense because it’s not like Sam has keys to all the offices, and when they’re not in use they’re usually locked tight. He wasn’t exactly paying attention when they got to the office because he was too busy thinking of how to get out of Charlie’s Game Night. If Dean wasn’t embarrassed about throwing his temper tantrum in front of a doctor he hardly knows, he’s certainly embarrassed about throwing said doctor’s belongings around in his own office in front of him.

“Oh, shit. Man, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking and I kind of lost it,” Dean’s still picking up what’s within his reach before Castiel walks over to stop him. Castiel places his hand on top of Dean’s and the nurse pauses, “It’s completely understandable, and I said it was alright.”

Dean hasn’t known Castiel more than two days, but he knows this man is just as upset as he is and he feels like shit for making it out that he was the only one who cares. “Yeah, but I still feel bad.” His mouth keeps running before he can stop it, “Tell you what, how about I buy you a round to make up for it?”

The doctor actually looks a little surprised by the question, but it’s only for a moment before his blank, stoic look is back in place, “I work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well so do I, but one won’t kill us, right?” He can’t believe he’s pushing the matter. Dean didn’t even ask Charlie or Jo out for drinks until a week after they started talking to each other and neither of them are his superiors let alone a doctor.

Dean can tell Castiel’s hesitant about accepting the offer. Something tells Dean that Castiel isn’t the sort of guy who spends a lot of his free time hanging out with friends, which Dean finds a shame because the guy is fun to be around. Then again, doctors don’t usually have a lot of free time to do much of anything. “Dude, if you don’t want to, I understand. I won’t have my feelings hurt if you say no.”

“I…” Just when Dean thinks the doctor is going to say no, that not-quite-there smile appears again, “Let me grab my coat.”

“Great!” Dean’s smiling the most he’s had in a long time and he’s surprised because all the doctor did was say yes to a drink. “I’ll meet you by the West garage entrance. I have to go grab something from my gear in home unit real quick.”

Dean hastily makes his way to the elevators not wanting to keep Castiel waiting too long. Instead of taking the elevator he decides to go down the stairwell and his feet squeak loudly when he comes to a sudden halt between floors.

Three started and very familiar faces are staring at Dean and he knows his face is mirroring their own. The very thing he was dreading earlier today is happening and he doesn’t know what he can do to wake up from this bad dream. The three girls smile when they realize who it is and Dean can’t stop the words from spilling from his mouth, “Son of a bitch.”

 

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	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks again to my beta reader dorian_is_a_dick

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He can’t believe it. Dean was thinking about this exact combination of girls and the horrors that it would entail not more than ten minutes ago, and now all three of them are standing right in front of him. “Ladies!” Dean attempts to compose himself quickly and hopes they missed it, “I’d stay and chat, but I’m kind of in a rush.”

None of the three women make any indication of moving out of the way, and Jo smirks as she crosses her arms. “Oh, yeah? What’s got you in such a hurry you can’t even say hello?”

All of the warning bells start sounding in Dean’s head, but he’s not sure how he can safely diffuse this ticking time bomb before it sets itself off, and knowing Dean’s luck it definitely will. Jo’s smirk slowly fades away and Dean realizes he’s taking too long on coming up with an answer.

Thinking quickly, Dean decides to just let them know the truth. He just won’t give them any of the details. “I’m going to have a drink with a friend.”

Charlie smiles and flails her hands around excitedly, “Oh, oh! Can we come along-”

“No!” Dean knows answering that harshly and that quickly was a mistake, but he doesn’t have time for this. He pushes himself past the three girls who look hurt, and Dean would feel guilty if he didn’t know these girls any better. “I just came to get my stuff. I’m supposed to be meeting him outside now.”

The girls are following Dean back up the stairs determined more than ever to get answers, if the quiet chattering is anything to go by. Dean gets out of the stairwell on his floor and heads to the lounge where he left his stuff in his locker, the girls following close behind. He groans when he hears Jo is the first to speak up since the girls started talking amongst themselves, “It wouldn’t happen to be Doctor Novak, would it?”

Dean pauses in spinning the combination in his lock and bumps his head against the metal locker door. He can just imagine Jo beaming proudly at guessing right, “I knew it!”

Quickly grabbing all of his belongings from the locker, he dumps it onto the floor and slams the door shut. Meanwhile, Becky finally decides to join the conversation, “Who’s Doctor Novak?” Dean doesn’t want to imagine the thoughts that might be running through the girl’s head right now. If it’s anything like what he’s heard about, he _really_ doesn’t want to know.

After Dean shoves his belongings in his bag he stands up to see the girls circled around him. Charlie appears as if she just remembered something, and Dean hates that look because it usually results in something bad for Dean.

“Wait a minute! Is that the heart doctor you were talking about, Jo?” She smiles and wiggles her eyebrows at Becky, “He sounds really dreamy.”

Dean’s confused for a moment because he’s not really sure what to point out what was wrong first. Charlie met Castiel not that long ago, but then there’s also the fact that she’s said time and time again that she’s only into women.

She seems to pick up on the mass confusion from Dean and the other two girls and stutters a few times before she tries to defend herself, “What? Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I’m allowed to talk about guys at all? I can talk about guys. I’m cool, I’m hip.” She frowns when everyone stays silent, “You guys suck.”

It’s the perfect opportunity for Dean to make a break for it, and that’s exactly what he does. He passes through the barricade shouldering his bag in the process. His step falters a bit when he hears a loud gasp coming from the red head, “Oh my God! Is that the same guy you’re bringing to Game Night?”

He knows better than to turn around, but he can’t stop from doing it. When he does, Dean realizes what a huge error that was. The other two girls are staring curiously at Charlie and Charlie has that huge smile again. That I’m-adorable-as-shit-and-you-wouldn’t-dare-hide-anything-from-me smile and this is the worst one he’s ever seen. As if to make things worse, Jo turns her head to look at Dean and almost perfectly mimic the same smile. Dean can’t do anything to repress the shiver that runs down his spine. He can only hope Becky doesn’t hang around them long enough to pick up their bad habits, but who is he kidding?

Charlie bounces up to Dean, the smile still locked in place, and Dean takes a step back out of fear on how this will play out. “Dean.” She tilts her head, “Dean _._ ” She bats her eyelashes, “ _Dean_.”

He looks away and over his shoulder and readjusts his bag, “No.”

She stands on the tips of her toes, grabs Dean’s face causing his cheeks and lips to squish together, and peers over in an attempt to get Dean to look at her. Charlie catches the corner of Dean’s eye and when his eyes move to look at her she’s pouting. Well, her bottom lip is sticking out in a comical manner at least. It doesn’t really look like pouting, but he’s not going to tell her that. The last thing she needs is to perfect that sad puppy eye thing Sam does. He makes a mental note not to let those two spend too much time together either.

It’s at that moment that two of the ICU nurses walk in the door, and Dean’s worked with them both enough to know their names. Rufus seems unbothered by the scene and Bobby raises an eyebrow before raising a hand and walking back out the door, “I don’t wanna know.”

Dean breaks free from Charlie’s hold and heads towards the door Rufus and Bobby just through. He hears the girls following him again, but refuses to acknowledge them. He doesn’t get far before Charlie launches and attaches herself to Dean’s back. Her arms wrap around his neck and her hands curl up into his hair and on his face, and her legs lock tightly around his waist.

Becky watches wide-eyed, Jo starts laughing, and Dean tries to pull her off of him. Dean’s amazed that she hardly budges, “You’re like a freakin’ octopus, you know that?” When he knows she’s not going to let go until she gets her way, he drops his arms in defeat. “Alright! You can come along,” and just like that, Charlie somehow quickly and graciously lets go as if she wasn’t completely wrapped around Dean seconds ago.

“Is Sam going to be there?” Dean shouldn’t be surprised that Becky would ask this, but it still catches him off guard.

He thinks for a moment on how he should respond. If he doesn’t invite Sam, Becky’s full attention will undoubtedly be on Charlie and Jo’s antics. In other words, him and making his life a living hell because that’s what little sisters do. If he _does_ invite Sam, he’s going to make Sam’s life just as uncomfortable as his own, but Becky will be completely focused on him instead. In other words, making Sam’s life a living hell. Then again, that’s what older brothers do.

Dean smiles when he comes to his decision and pulls out his cell phone, “Sure. Let’s see if Samantha will come out and play.”

Becky squeaks behind him as his phone starts ringing. “Sam Winchester speaking.”

Dean smirks, “So formal with your own brother.”

He can just imagine the bitch face on the other end of the phone, “I only do that because you like to forward weird phone calls to me and I never know who’s going to answer.”

“Oh, come on! That was one time.” Dean’s still laughing about the time he had a patient from the Behavior Health building call him saying that the world was ending and the devil was going to walk the earth and a whole bunch of other stuff about how monsters were real. He told the patient that he was going to forward the phone to the President of the United States and forwarded the phone call to his brother. Poor Sam was on the phone with the guy for over an hour. “Here. I’ll make it up to you. How about we go out for a few drinks?”

“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” Dean rolls his eyes at his brother’s question.

“I’m saying a few drinks, not let’s get plastered because of the bad news you gave me an’ Cas earlier today.” He know he’s playing dirty, but Dean really wants Sam to come out and he’s not above guilt tripping his brother. It’s not often he gets to spend time with his little brother either.

Silence fills the line and just when Dean thinks that Sam might have hung up on him, he hears Sam sigh loudly, “Fine.”

“We’re getting to leave now. Did you want to meet us there?” He’d offer to drive Sam too, but his baby is already full with five people. He figured he would drive Castiel because he’s the one who invited the doctor out for drinks, and he knows Jo and Charlie will convince him to drive the rest of them too, so putting a sixth one of Sam’s size is simply out of the question.

Sam sounded wary before, but now he sounds downright suspicious, “Wait. Who all is going?”

“Just a few friends and Cas, Sam.” Dean doesn’t know why he singled out Castiel from the others, and a part of him wishes he hadn’t.

“Cas? Who’s Cas? Wait, are you talking about Castiel Novak?” Sam can’t disguise the amusement in his voice, but Dean can pick up a small amount of concern.

“Yeah, okay? Anyway, I think I’ve kept him waiting long enough. You think you can meet us down at the bar on your own, or do I need to put in the car seat for the little brother?” Dean has unconsciously been moving down the stairwell and through the hospital to the exit. He’s back at the door before he even realized he was walking. When he gets to the door he catches sight of Castiel standing outside on the curb with his back to Dean. Castiel is now wearing a bulky, beige overcoat instead of his white doctor coat and his hair is more ruffled than it was before and looks much like it had when Dean first met him. The doctor slowly spins around as if he knows he’s being watched. It’s hard to tell from this distance, but Dean thinks he can see the doctor’s eyes looking around at the girls and back to Dean.

“Dean? Hello? Are you listening?” Sam’s frustrated voice goes unheard as Dean finds he’s locked in another staring match with Castiel.

“Gotta go, Sam. See you there.” He hangs up without listening to his brother’s protests and makes his way over to the doctor with the three murmuring girls trailing behind.

“Hey, Cas. Sorry it took me so long.” He turns and glares at Charlie who is excitedly bouncing on her feet. “I ran into some pests and can’t seem to get rid of them.” Charlie and Jo’s smiles drop from their faces and Jo punches Dean in the shoulder.

“It is no trouble, Dean.” When Dean breaks eye contract to glare at Charlie, Castiel turns to look at Jo. “Hello, Joanna.”

Jo groans as she throws her head back and raises her arms in frustration, “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? It’s Jo, okay? Jo.”

Dean can’t help but laugh at her anger. As much trouble as they have been giving him lately, it’s about time they got some of their own. His laughter is cut short when someone elbows him in the side. She’s back to smiling and she’s completely focused on Castiel, but Charlie is clearly the one who jabbed him to get his attention, “What, Charlie?”

Castiel is watching the two curiously and Charlie is still staring at the doctor and her smile only breaks up when she speaks through the side of her mouth to Dean, “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Now that he thinks about it, they only got through half of Charlie and Castiel’s introductions before the phone disaster.

“Fine. Cas, Charlie.” He points from Castiel to Charlie and then back to Charlie to Castiel, “Charlie, Cas. There. You happy?”

Dean could swear the girl started to sparkle and concludes the girl must have magical faeries in her pocket for just occasions or something. “Better. Thank you. Hi, Cas.”

Jo, who had started texting someone, looks up abruptly and upset, “Hey! Why does everyone get to call him Cas but me?”

Dean already knows this could be a very long night, but out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of Becky. Her mouth is slightly parted and she’s staring at Castiel like… like…

“Oh, crap.” Dean looks from Becky to Castiel and back at Becky. He knows that look. That’s the perfect definition of the look that Sam has described to Dean. He grabs Becky by the shoulders causing her to jolt in surprise and he starts pushing her towards the direction of his car, “And this is Becky. Alright let’s go already. We can talk there.”

Becky flails a bit as she’s being manhandled and the other three follow behind with varying questioning looks. Once to the car, Becky suddenly becomes an unmovable wall, causing Dean to walk into her as she gawks at Dean’s car. “Is this what I think it is?”

Of all the people to see get so excited about his car, he never thought it would be Becky of all people. Jo and Charlie like riding in it because they think she ‘looks pretty,’ but they’ve never done anything like this before. “A black, 1967 Chevy Impala,” Dean’s eyes feel like they are about to fall out of their sockets, “and it’s in _gorgeous_ condition. It looks like she just drove off the car lot.” Dean puffs up a bit at that and a small smile crawls on his face.

He’s decided she’s a little weird, okay a _lot_ weird, but at least she has good taste in cars. His smile is larger and brighter now and pats the car’s hood proudly, “She’s my baby.” Jo rolls her eyes and gets in the back seat on the driver’s side followed by Charlie and Dean is still preening from the attention on his car, “So you know a lot about cars?”

Becky is still looking over the cars details and shakes her head, “No. Not really.” Dean’s smile droops slightly and his brows furrow in confusion, but Becky doesn’t notice. “My favorite book series has one in it and I’ve been dying to see one in person. It’s about two brothers who drive across the countryside fighting monsters-” She starts rambling on about the series and Dean has already stopped listening.

 _This_ sounds more like Becky. Dean will still gladly take the compliment she gave him, however. Becky sees Charlie and Jo on the inside waving their hands sporadically as if to usher her to join them in the back seat. After she notices there’s no way to sit next to the doctor she joins the other two. Dean and Castiel get in after that, and that’s when Dean notices he’s been stuck with Castiel sitting next to him. It shouldn’t be weird, considering it would have been the same way if it was just the two of them, but with the three she-vultures and a clueless doctor next to him it’s very unsettling.

Dean starts the ignition and checks his mirrors, making sure to spare another glare towards his tagalongs in the rear view mirror and pulls out of the garage towards the bar.

 

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The drive is short, no more than a few minutes, since it’s just down the street, so conversation is minimal. Dean’s music plays over the speakers as the girls converse amongst each other in the back. If that’s all they do for the rest of the night, Dean will be thankful. He enjoys talking to them, or at least Jo and Charlie, but when they get like this they are unbearable. Dean didn’t even know that they hang out and if this is going to be a regular thing, Dean’s going to do as much as he can to stay away from it.

Castiel stares out the passenger window the entire ride without saying a word and Dean can’t help but wonder if he or the girls did something wrong. When they finally arrive at the local bar, he gets out before Dean can say anything. However, once he’s out of the car, he waits for the others to do the same.

Dean’s puzzled by Castiel’s behavior, but instead of commenting on it like he usually would he walks up to the doctor and slings an arm over his shoulder smiling, “Come on, I know a couple of beers that have our names on them.”

The doctor frowns and stares at his feet, “I don’t understand. Why would someone name a beer after the angel of Thursday?”

It takes Dean a second before he bursts into laughter, bending over at the waist. Once he finally catches his breath, he uses his free arm to point at Castiel. “Don’t ever change.”

 

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	8. Chapter 8

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Dean removes his arm from around Castiel’s shoulder when the two reach the door. After making a quick scan around the bar, Dean decides he somehow managed to beat his brother here. Apparently, the girls have done the same and when come to the same conclusion they head off towards an empty corner of the room.

The bar’s not all that crowded yet, but it’s already a little smoky and Dean’s pretty certain it’s going to start picking up within the next hour or so. He already sees a few co-workers from the hospital, and even though none of them are wearing any badges and hospital logos are covered where they normally would be, Dean still notices a few people by their scrub bottoms and he even recognizes a few faces. He knows he’s not one to talk though. Dean pulled his spare plaid, button up over his scrub shirt and his leather jacket over that, but didn’t make any effort into changing his pants either.

Normally, Dean would go home, shower, and change completely because of all the varying things that get on his scrubs and himself over the course of one day. At the very least he would change out of his scrubs. Though tonight he had to make due since he was caught off guard by the terrible trio of giggling girls.

Castiel watches the girls walk over to the corner they have picked out and once they sit down, he takes a moment to look around the bar. Aside from the air, the place seems warm and inviting. Homey even. The bar itself is in the middle of the room and off to the left are varying games including pool tables, a pinball machine, and an old fashioned juke box. There’s two bartenders working at the bar and both seem to be making light conversation with the customers. On the right, are several tables and booths and it’s when the girls try to wave them over when a waitress comes over that Castiel realizes this place is also a restaurant.

Unlike Dean, he doesn’t recognize anyone from the hospital with the exception of the people still in scrubs. He would be surprised that he’s never been here before, but Castiel never really made time to go out other than for work. He usually prefers to stay home and read or listen to classical music, but for some reason, Castiel found he couldn’t say no to Dean’s offer. There’s something strange and unique even about Dean that Castiel can’t quite place. The only thing he does know is that he enjoys the nurse’s company and has a good heart.

It’s because of people like Dean that made Castiel want to become a heart doctor in the first place. Why he finally became one was a completely different matter, however.

He’s shaken from dark memories when Dean pats him on his shoulder, telling him they should over to the booth before the girls “drag them over there themselves.”

Dean doesn’t miss the look. He’s seen it before, and he’s had it cross his own face a few times to know there’s something dark gnawing at the corners of the doctor’s mind. He still doesn’t really know the guy enough to push, so for now Dean’s going to do what he can to take Castiel’s mind off it.

Jo’s leaning over the table smiling at Dean and Castiel as they approach, “What do you guys want to drink?”

The waitress looks at the two newcomers and smiles as she steps out of the way making sure to put down a few more menus as she does so.

Before Castiel has a chance to answer, Dean pipes in for the both of them. “Two beers of whatever you’ve got on tap if that’s alright.”

The waitress smiles when Dean sends a wink in her direction and gives a quick, “Coming right up,” and walks off in the direction towards the bar.

Castiel watches the waitress wander off and slides into the booth first sitting next to Jo. Dean squeezes in after Castiel leaving him and Becky on the ends. He smiles to himself when he realizes that Dean hasn’t left any room on this end for Sam, which means he’s going to get stuck sitting next to the eccentric office girl. The smile is quickly wiped off his face when what he’s been dreading the entire car ride finally starts.

“So, _Cas_ ,” Jo emphasizes the name and Dean knows she’s still upset about the introductions from earlier. “How in the world did Dean Winchester manage to talk you out here after one day when everyone on the floor has been trying to convince you for years?”

Dean looks up at that and he’s not sure what part interests him more, the fact that Castiel has never joined the others in their outings, or the fact that Jo and who knows who else on the floor has been trying to convince the doctor to join them for that long.

Castiel shifts in his seat, clearly uneasy at the sudden attention from everyone at the table. “I’m not sure exactly. Maybe I thought it was time to get out for a change.” He fixes Dean with the intense stare that has already become normal to Dean, “And he’s very persuasive when he chooses to be.”

Charlie barely holds her laughter back, but a small sound hums from behind her lips before she can quell it, “Sorry. Not touching that one. Too easy.”

Someone’s approaching their booth as Dean rolls his eyes and Castiel looks confused at Charlie. As he’s rolling his eyes, he catches sight of his brother Sam already heading over to their table. Dean ignores the girls murmuring at the table and waves over to his brother, “Heya, Sammy!”

The conversation at the table falls dead and Dean doesn’t have to turn around to know his conversation didn’t go unheard. Sam has stopped dead in his tracks and is glaring at his brother. To annoy his younger brother even further Dean waves his hand in the direction of the last empty spot at the table, “Come on. Sit down, man.”

Before Sam sits down, he eyes Dean’s drink and Dean already knows where this is heading. He squeezes himself beside Becky who is staring at him like she can’t believe it’s actually happening. The waitress returns when she spots a new addition to the table and asks Sam what he would like to drink.

“Water, thanks.” His eyes never leave Dean and Dean can tell that if there wasn’t anyone else around, he would be getting an earful right now.

“Oh come on, Sam. One drink won’t hurt you.” The words leave Dean’s mouth before he can stop them and he already knows this isn’t going to end well.

“Just one. Yeah, that’s how it usually starts out,” and sure enough Sam jumps right in no longer caring about present company.

Dean looks around the table, some faces already starting to look nervous, and then back at his brother when he warns, “Sam. _Later_. Alright?”

Just as Sam is about to protest, the waitress returns with Sam’s water and takes their orders. Noticing the change in atmosphere, their waitress is gone once she gets the last order. An uncomfortable silence hangs over their table.

Charlie is the first to break and she takes a large drink before loudly placing it back on the table, “So, Game Night!”

Dean’s head drops forward and groans but still manages to avoid from hitting the table this time. “You’re never going to let this go are you?”

“It’s not my fault you broke my phone,” Charlie states matter-of-factly. The tension in the air is loosening and Charlie’s glad she could lighten the mood.

Sam makes a sound that’s caught between a scoff and a laugh and raises an eyebrow at Charlie, “What? You broke her phone again?” He turns in his seat ignoring Becky’s very focused eyes, “And you’re letting him get off that easy? Didn’t you just buy that new black iPhone last week?”

Charlie’s smile is still on her face, but is heavily strained. “Sam, x-nay on the onephay,” but it’s too late and Charlie can already see the wheels turning in Dean’s head.

“Black?” The voice that speaks up first is not the one she had expected. If it was Dean, she would know how to steer him off in the other direction, but she has no idea how to throw Castiel off. So she does the only thing she can think of. She whimpers.

Castiel is completely oblivious to Charlie’s problem and misses her last, weak plea. “But the phone Dean broke was white.”

Dean sits up straight in his seat, and Charlie lets out an equally weak laugh, “So about that Game Night.” She swings an arm in an attempt to look encouraging, but she drops it when Dean narrows his eyes at her.

“You tricked me!” Dean points accusingly at Charlie.

The red head scoffs, “Oh come on Dean, it’s not like you’re that hard to trick.” Charlie quickly closes her mouth before she can say anything else. Sam rubs his eyes and Jo barks out a laugh. “Oops.”

Dean tries to reach over the table to grab at Charlie who is pushing back up against Becky who in turn is pushing up against Sam. Jo doesn’t care that Dean is pushing Castiel onto her because she’s too busy laughing. The struggle doesn’t last long, however, because their orders are being set on their table. Dean points at Charlie again, who sticks out her tongue in response.

When Dean starts pulling away he realizes how close he is to Castiel. In the shuffle, Dean practically threw himself over the doctor in an attempt to get at Charlie almost to the point he was on his lap. Castiel seems completely unbothered by the fact, which confuses Dean. He clears his throat and sits in his own place, trying to put as much space between him and Castiel. Given there wasn’t much space to begin with doesn’t leave much. If Castiel notices anything, he doesn’t comment on it. He decides that maybe the guy just doesn’t have personal space issues.

The group continues conversation with small talk over their meal avoiding topics like work and, to Dean’s pleasure, Game Night. Everyone seems to be interested in the doctor since the majority of people already know a fair amount about each other. When the conversation of family came up, Dean immediately picked up on Castiel’s reluctance and how he changed the subject to books. It was a smart move on Castiel’s part as the girls and even Sam seemed to really just on that conversation.

During this conversation, Dean noticed Becky was actually quiet. He would have thought she would be the first to join in the topic. When he looked at her, Dean noticed she was looking torn at where her full attention should be focused on. After looking between the Sam and Castiel several times her eyes finally land on Dean. She continues staring at Dean for what Dean thinks is far too long for his liking and risks a glance over to the doctor on his left. When his eyes flick back to Becky, the secretary’s eyes widen and her mouth falls open in a gasp. Everyone including Sam stares at Becky as she excited bounces in her seat and worries her bottom lip between her teeth. She waves one of her hands as if to tell them all to ignore her sudden outburst. After she gets her point across, she grabs her drink and downs a few gulps and reaches for a small notebook from her purse. Sam and Charlie try to look over her shoulder to see what she’s hurriedly writing down, but the notebook is gone again before they can see anything.

 

____________________

 

After the meal, everyone pays separately except that Dean pays for Castiel and Sam as well as himself. When the girls get excited about Dean buying Castiel’s dinner, he simply tells them, “It’s the least I can do after inviting him and Sam out and forcing them to put up with you girls.” When Sam crossed his arms at Dean’s comment, he knew he was going to have to pay for his brother’s trouble tonight as well.

 

____________________

 

Dean waves his brother off after getting the ‘we’re talking about this later’ look, and starts filing everyone into his car. Becky is the first inside this time, but puts up no fuss when Castiel sits in the front seat. A part of Dean wants to think he should be worried about that, but he lets it go for the time being.

Once back at the hospital, everyone says their ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you tomorrow’s and each head home to relax for the rest of the evening.

But Becky, Becky goes home to write.

 

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	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings this chapter: Becky because I feel she needs a warning (at least in this chapter). Cheesy, completely unrealistic, OOC sex but only for this chapter. Slight BDSM?
> 
> Unbeta'd because I was too slow again. Will fix later.

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Becky immediately started working on her new project the moment she got back to her apartment. The words just seem to write themselves as she types away on her computer. A few messages pop up on her instant messenger, but she chooses to ignore them until she gets every thought down before she loses them.

While it’s not the first fan fiction she’s written by a long shot, it is her first RPF. The idea never really seemed to intrigue her in the past, as she was more content to focus on her beloved fictional characters from the vastly underappreciated Carver Edlund series, but there’s no way she could let this one by. Looking back on the events from earlier that night, Becky can see all of the signs. As much as everyone seems to think otherwise, Becky likes to think she’s actually very smart and perceptive when she needs to be. While Jo and Charlie were only teasing Dean and Castiel, Becky figured it out the moment Dean looked away from her to the doctor.

She wishes she knew more about the two. How they met, if they’ve known each other a long time or if it was an instant connection, if they’re screwing.

…If they play doctor in the bedroom.

_The doctor removes the disposable gloves he was wearing and throws them into the trashcan before going to the sink to wash his hands. Without looking back, he pauses and in a low and almost demanding tone he calls out to the nurse. “Dean. A word please.”_

_Dean’s hands still on the intravenous therapy bag, and the nurse takes a deep breath to steady himself. He knows what that tone means, and it shouldn’t excite him as much as it does. Dean sends a smile and a wink to the patient who looks concerned for the nurse. He pats the bed near her foot before turning away to leave. “You know the drill. If you need anything, just give me or one of the other nurses a call.”_

_Doctor Novak finishes washing his hands and sends Dean one more stern look before exiting the room. Castiel stands at the desk and watches as the nurse clocks out for the day and tries to hide his excitement at finally having the nurse all to himself._

_He turns and spins on his heels heading in the direction of his office knowing that Dean is obediently following behind. A small and devilish smile crosses his face when he hears the nurse stumble and make excuses to going out with their co-workers as they pass. Castiel steps to the side of the office door after he opens it and waits for Dean to go in first._

_Once Dean is in his office and, to Castiel’s great satisfaction looking completely vulnerable, he quickly walks into the office and locks the door behind him. Castiel’s smile widens when he hears the loud, audible gulp from the man standing behind him. When turning to face the nurse, he notices the small tremble in Dean’s legs, the attempt at heavy steady breaths, but most importantly the sheer want in his eyes. Those are the very eyes that draw Castiel in so much. It’s such a beautiful emerald that compliments his pink, plush lips and the light dusting of freckles on his cheeks._

_Everything about the man is intoxicating and Castiel loves having control over him. Dean is his, and the nurse knows it, but that doesn’t mean the doctor has to tell the nurse that the doctor belongs to Dean just as much. Speaking of which, Castiel remembers the reason of why he brought Dean to his office, “Dean.” His deep voice carries across the office and Castiel relishes the small jump and light gasp that comes from the man. “Were you flirting with the patients again?”_

_Dean now has to use one of his hands on the desk to steady himself as if fearing his legs will give out from under him at any second, “No.”_

_Castiel takes a step forward, his face dark. “Dean. You know I don’t like it when you lie to me.”_

_A whimper escapes Dean’s lips and both men know this how it usually it, how they want it, need it. “I’m sorry-”_

_The doctor is in Dean’s personal space in a flash and he grabs Dean roughly by his hair. Leaning in close to whisper in Dean’s ear, Castiel asks, “You’re sorry, what?”_

_Heat is pooling in Dean’s stomach at the rough treatment and he’s not sure how to respond until Castiel pulls his hair again, “Doctor! I’m sorry, doctor!”_

_Lips press against the nurse’s neck and he can feel the doctor smiling against him. Dean feels more than hears, “That’s better.” Castiel pulls away to look at Dean’s face again, “Now, how am I going to punish you? We can’t have that happening again now, can we?”_

_Dean moans at the words and he’s already half hard from Castiel’s rough man handling. He presses his hips against Castiel’s and moans again when he realizes the doctor is just as turned on as he is. His moans turn into whines when Castiel grabs his hips tightly and holds him still._

_“Did I say you could move?” As much as Castiel loves where this is going, he needs to assert his authority again. He’s the one in control, not Dean. “On your knees.”_

_The nurse hastily obeys and thankfully drops to the floor. He’s glad because he wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to be able to hold himself up, and is practically glowing with excitement at what Castiel is going to have him do next. Dean stares up at Castiel waiting for his next order. Their eyes gaze into each other’s and for a brief moment it’s just them and nothing else matters._

_Castiel breaks free from his trance when his eyes catch Dean unknowingly licking his lips. As much as he loves staring at Dean’s lips and counting the freckles on his cheeks, he much prefers those lips wrapped around his cock and those cheeks hollowed out and sucking like his life depended on it. He moans at the thought but decides he much prefers the real thing instead of just daydreaming about it._

_Dean’s cock twitches when he hears Castiel’s low moan and it takes everything in his power to keep from reaching out. His eyes darken, completely lust blown, when Castiel starts unfastening his belt in front of Dean and he licks his lips again. He shivers when he sees the doctor pull himself from out of his pants and boxer briefs. The nurse leans forward to assist, but Castiel swats his hands away with his free hand and suddenly Dean feels panic well up in his chest._

_“You’re being punished. Remember?” Castiel slowly starts to stroke himself in front of Dean and that’s when Dean becomes aware that he’s going to be able to see but not touch. Castiel is so close and Dean could just reach out… “If you behave, I might reward you.”_

_His hands clench tightly at his sides and press down against the rough carpet, but he does as he’s told. Dean desperately wants to be rewarded._

_While Dean was busy wrapping up with the patient, Castiel took extra time to put lotion on his hands. It’s still rough and he wishes he used more, but he thought it would be too suspicious if something came up unexpectantly. In any case, it’s enough for now, and Castiel doesn’t plan on torching Dean too long because the longer he waits, the worse it gets for him as well._

_Slick sounds and an occasional soft moan fill the office and Dean wants so bad. All he can do is watch and he knows it won’t be long before he loses it, so in a last ditch effort he looks up at Castiel pleadingly. It seems to work and, although Castiel doesn’t stop, he lets out a quiet, “Top right-hand drawer.”_

_Dean gets up and almost flies to the other side of the desk. In the drawer he finds a small bottle of lube and a couple of condoms. He grabs them and quickly returns to the other side of the desk._

_As much as Castiel wants to fuck Dean’s mouth, he knows neither of them are going to last and he wants to reward Dean for his good behavior. He takes the items from Dean’s hand and sets them on the desk behind them. The nurse looks confused, but before he can comment on it, Castiel spins the nurse around and bends him over the desk. “Is this what you want, Dean?”_

_Dean gasps and another moan slips from his lips, “Yes. Fuck, yes. Cas, please!”_

_Castiel roughly yanks Dean’s scrub pants and boxers down slaps Dean on his ass. “What was that?”_

_Dean yelps at the contact and the feeling of being naked from the waist down. He quickly corrects his previous error, “Please, doctor!”_

_Using one hand to rub the tender area he had just inflicted, Castiel uses his other to reach over and grab the small bottle of lube. He knows Dean can’t see anything, or at least anything he wants to see, when he looks over his shoulders and focuses on warming the slick substance on his fingers. Castiel doesn’t give Dean any warning when he presses the first finger against his entrance and causes Dean to jolt. The hand that was rubbing small circles on Dean’s ass is now grabbing Dean’s waist to hold him still. Slowly, he pushes the first finger in and can’t help but watch in awe as Dean eagerly takes him in. He makes small circles with his other fingers and he works his finger inside of Dean._

_He’s still trying to push back, to take more, but Castiel won’t let him and Dean really is going to lose it at this rate, “Please.”_

_As rough as they have been, Castiel has never wanted to hurt Dean, but Dean knows his limits and if Dean needs more, Castiel is more than willing to oblige. A second digit is pushed in and the nurse gasps at the feeling. Castiel isn’t sure if it’s because Dean’s already used to it or just really needs it, but it doesn’t take much time before Castiel has four fingers working him open._

_Castiel’s hand goes over to reach for the condom when Dean says he’s ready, but Dean stops him. Worry washes over the doctor and he’s unsure of what’s wrong, but it all washes away when Dean’s fingers interlace with Castiel and he looks over his shoulder again. “I want to feel you, Cas. I don’t want to feel anything between us.”_

_The doctor groans, but can’t say anything. With his free hand, he guides himself to Dean’s entrance and takes a deep breath before he pushes in. Dean’s hand grips Castiel’s tighter and the doctor pauses to allow Dean time to adjust, but is caught off guard when Dean pushes his hips back hard and takes Castiel’s length completely. The feeling is so overwhelming and Dean’s loud moans aren’t helping that Castiel almost comes right then. He has to bite down on his bottom lip and focus._

_Sweat is beginning to form on their brows and down their back and the room is starting to get muggy, but neither of the two men pays any mind except in the feeling of each other._

_Once Castiel is certain he can finally move without losing it, he gently starts rocking his hips against Dean’s. Dean is panting now as a few beads of sweat drip onto the desk surface, and he tries to get Castiel to move more. Based on Dean’s behavior, Castiel now knows that Dean wants it rough right now. He_ wants _to be punished._

_Castiel could never deny Dean._

_The doctor almost pulls out completely before slamming back in hard and Dean throws his head back with a loud cry. Castiel repeats the motion several times until he has Dean practically sobbing and desperately trying to meet him in each thrust. The movements become shorter and faster and the loud moans are now grunts from Castiel and small cries and whimpers from Dean._

_Castiel is on the edge and he can tell Dean isn’t that far behind, so he reaches around and grabs Dean’s cock in his hand and tries to stroke in time with his thrusts. The nurse bucks his hips into Castiel’s hand and back into Castiel’s hips, and he’s louder than before. There’s no possible way that any passerby can’t hear Dean and Castiel knows that they will know who Dean belongs to._

_Their thrusts are getting more erratic and Castiel is slamming in hard at a brutal pace and Dean can’t do anything other than take it. Castiel leans over Dean’s shoulder and meets Dean in a heated kiss when he feels Dean tighten around his cock and spilling into his hand. Castiel has to break for air and when he does, his own climax washes over him and cries out Dean’s name._

Becky fans herself and takes a deep breath, “Calm down, Becky. Breathe.”

Her phone makes a small sound letting her know she got a text message, and that’s when she notices several messages on her phone as well as her computer. She didn’t realize she got so lost in her thoughts again. Her fingers didn’t get the memo either and have taken a mind of their own. She leans forward and stares wide eyed at her computer screen unblinking as she reads what somehow managed to write itself.

The phone chirps again and Becky rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed that people are trying to distract her from her project. Thumbing over the phone she pulls up the messages to see that both Charlie and Jo have sent several texts. Most of the texts are in capital letters with varying levels of “omg”s and random jumbled letters indicating that both of them are incapable of forming any thoughts without smashing keys. Only a few things would get both of them _this_ excited, and all of the options have Becky scrambling through the texts. She comes across the first text from Jo that simply reads, “GET UR BUTT ONLINE,” and after she saves her story she does as she’s told.

Becky notices the usual chat on Skype is going non-stop and that’s when she knows there must have been new update on the Carver Edlund series. Becky starts typing away and lets the girls and the rest of the group know that she’s there and takes a moment to scroll through the previous messages so the other don’t have to repeat themselves. She wants to start from the beginning, but has to stop when one word catches her eye.

Angels.

She stares at the single word as if it was the answer to every question and, to Becky, it was. There had been several arguments on how the series could possibly continue after the older brother would be saved from the fiery pits of hell. Jo said it was a good enough place for the story to end because there was no other way to bring him back, but Charlie and Becky thought otherwise. No one expected this, however.

Ignoring the rest of the conversation she scrolls back to the bottom to see if she can find out more, but instead she sees Becky and Charlie desperately trying to get her attention.

Most of the other people in the chat are quiet as if they are waiting for Becky’s response or simply waiting for her two friends to calm down long enough to get a word in. She excitedly types away repeating the one word that caught her full attention.

More key smashing from her friends follow and Charlie is the first to form a somewhat distinguishable sentence, “did u c??? did u C?”

Becky shakes her head confused uncaring that no one can actually see her since their video chat isn’t up and replies with a simple, “See what?”

Both Jo and Charlie are typing and Becky feels light headed unsure if she’s ready for what they are about to tell her. Charlie and Jo finish almost simultaneously and Becky can’t believe what she’s seeing on the screen in front of her. She rereads it over and over, yet the words still don’t quite feel real.

The older brother was saved by an angel, and the angels name was…

 

____________________

 

Castiel shows up at the hospital a little later than usual. He couldn’t seem to sleep well and had a rough morning in traffic. When he arrives, he finds out that the heart hospital is faring better now that they have adequate staff. A small part of him is upset he won’t be spending the day with his new friend Dean, but there’s work that needs to be done and he’s thankful that his coworkers don’t have to work shorthanded today.

When he rounds the corner, he almost drops his coffee. The three girls from last night are huddled near the main desk and immediately stop once they become aware of his presence. He almost shivers when Jo, Charlie, and Becky smile at him with large, toothy grins. Castiel is starting to understand what Dean meant about these girls being dangerous.

All three speak in unison and this time Castiel does shiver, “Hello, _Castiel_.”

His eyes are wide and he knows he must look a lot like a deer staring at an oncoming car, but even so it does nothing to deter the three women. Castiel frantically looks around, hoping for someone that can come to his aid and smiles in relief when he catches a familiar burn nurse heading towards the desk, “Dean.”

It’s loud enough to catch Dean’s ear and the nurse smiles and nods at the doctor, “Hey, Cas.”

The girls turn to face Dean, their expressions unchanged, and Dean freezes dead in his tracks much like Castiel had. “Whoa!”

Dean stares at them and slowly raises his hand with one finger pointing to the ceiling. “Sorry man,” he doesn’t dare take his eyes off the girls in fear they might attack him the moment he does, “I don’t know what you said or did, but you’re on your own.”

Castiel’s face falls and looks betrayed as Dean slowly starts backing away. It seems to work because Dean grumbles to himself and Castiel can tell that Dean’s struggling with his fight or flight instinct. The nurse looks appears to have figured something out and grabs a passing doctor, one he was speaking with not more than five minutes ago, and pulls him over and into the danger zone.

Dean grabs Castiel’s hand and pulls the doctor away from the threats, and starts walking off. “I gotta borrow Cas for a minute, why don’t you guys get acquainted?”

Looking over his shoulder as he goes, he notices all three girls throwing him dark looks. He gulps because he knows he’s in for it later and only hopes the other doctor can distract them enough to soften them up a bit.

“Ladies! What a pleasure it is to meet you.” Dean closes his eyes and frowns because he now knows this was a terrible plan. The new doctor’s thick English accent fills the halls regardless of the other chatter and sounds around them.

Jo crosses her arms and doesn’t seem impressed, “We work on the same floor. I know who you are Doctor-”

He interrupts before the blond can finish, “Please, call me Balthazar.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not personally into RPF, but I have no qualms with anyone that does. Just not my thing. Becky on the other hand…
> 
> I’ve only written smut once before this on my own (as a birthday fic), so I hope it was alright. Also, I highly doubt Dean and Cas’ sex life (whenever I can actually get to that part) is going to be like what Becky is daydreaming. But that’s what bonus Becky chapters are for. FIC-CEPTION!


	10. Chapter 10

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Dean laughs to himself as he leads Castiel away from the troublesome trio plus one self-righteous doctor.  He was just telling the doctor that he was going to get back at him for the crap he just pulled on him, and Dean can’t think of a better revenge than leaving him with those three. Who knows what they’ll do to him. When he looks at Castiel, he laughs subside and sees Doctor Novak staring at him curiously. Dean doesn’t realize why he’s suddenly so interesting until his eyes follow Castiel’s down to where Dean is still holding the doctor’s hand.

He quickly drops Castiel’s hand as if he was burned and clears his throat as he looks away from the continued stare from the doctor. Changing the topic sounds like the best course of action right now, and Dean tries desperately to avoid thinking about what just happened. “So, it’s you and me again?”

The smile that was slowly starting to creep on Dean’s face disappears when Castiel doesn’t respond immediately and that’s when he remembers seeing a lot more people running around this morning. The traveler nurses must have finally started their contracts, which means Castiel gets to go back to being a doctor. Which also means that Dean’s probably not going to see the doctor as much anymore.

Castiel seems to pick up Dean’s sudden understanding and tries to hide his own disappointment, “I will drop in from time to time, but I’m sure you, Joanna, and Ms. Harvelle will be able to handle everything without me.”

Dean’s about to brush it off until he finally processes what the doctor’s said and the words rush out of his mouth before he’s thought about them, which is a problem he’s been running into a lot lately. “Those two?! No offense, but I have a feeling it’s not possible to share a room with both of them for five minutes let alone a whole shift.”

The doctor looks over his shoulder in Dean’s direction and appears as if he’s going to say something, but Dean catches Castiel’s eyes widening  slightly before he turns away again. When Dean feels a hand slap down on his shoulder, he has a good idea who it could be. He hopes it’s the lesser of two evils, but then remembers he left that one and the other two terrors with the annoying doctor, Balthazar.

“Don’t you worry about us, Doctor Novak.” Crap. “We’ve got you covered. Isn’t that right, Dean?”

He knows better than to look and see who it is, but Dean looks anyway. His face pales when he sees the dark look on Ellen’s face. He tries to send a look for a plead of help to Castiel, but the doctor is already halfway down the hall. As Ellen is dragging Dean by his ear towards Mr. Hiserly’s room, the only thought running through his mind is how much today is going to suck.

____________________

Dean isn’t that far off from the truth. Today is awful. Having Jo and Ellen in the same room is easily the worst thing he’s had to do all year and, being a nurse, that says a lot. Both are strong and hard workers, but the constant arguing makes Dean want to join Mr. Hiserly in his comatose state. Dressing changes go smoothly, or as well as they can with two very hostile women. It probably doesn’t help that he successfully managed to piss both of them off before the day had even started.

He’s thankful when it comes time for his lunch, and tells the two women he’ll have his zone phone in case anything happens in the time it takes to get his food and return to the floor. Dean doesn’t even mind the long lines today because he’s just that happy to get out of that room.

As he’s paying for his food, Dean thinks about what Castiel is up to. The doctor said he would drop by, but he hasn’t seen him at all except for this morning. A small amount of panic washes over him when he hears a page overhead for the Hiserly family to return to the room and not seconds after he hears his zone phone ring and braces himself for the worst. There wouldn’t be a code anymore now that Mr. Hiserly made it clear that there should not be any further resusatations, which means if anything happens Dean can’t do anything about it.

Anger pools up inside him and replaces the fear as he answers the phone.

“Dean,” It’s Jo, but she doesn’t sound upset. In fact, she sounds relieved. “I need you to do us a favor. We can’t seem to get ahold of Will or Cas. We’ve tried calling them, but they haven’t been picking up. Mom says she think she saw them head into the chapel when she took her lunch break. Can you check for us?”

The nurse stuffs his food in bags knowing that his lunch has been put on hold for the time being, “Sure, no prob. What’s up?”

____________________

They saw Castiel on their way to the chapel and Will called out to the doctor. Castiel was on his way back to his office, but he was more than happy to join the family as they pray for Mr. Hiserly’s recovery. There wasn’t much talking, and Castiel was amazed at how well behaved the children were and at their eagerness to join their father in prayer.

Castiel was content enough to watch the family share such a personal experience with him, and if they minded when Castiel joined the family in prayer they didn’t show it. He wasn’t sure how long he sat with them, but just as he was excusing himself to return to his duties, he saw Dean step through the chapel doors. The doctor put a comforting hand on Will’s shoulder as the other noticed Dean’s sudden arrival.

Dean’s appearance could mean a variety of things, unfortunately most of which are negative. The paging system doesn’t come overhead in the chapel, and his cell phone was turned off just before he stepped inside. It doesn’t take Dean long to scan the room to find them, and when Dean spots Castiel and the family the doctor’s worry fades into relief and something else when a large smile graces Dean’s face.

Will still doesn’t look convinced that everything is alright and Castiel gently ushers the family towards the door, “It’s alright. I think Dean has some good news for us.”

The nurse’s stare lingers on Castiel a moment longer before he shifts it to Will, and no one miss the fact that Dean is practically beaming. “He’s awake.”

____________________

Everyone quickly packs into one of the service elevators because Dean told the others, “It’s a good enough emergency for me, and if they give us shit about it I’ll take care of it.”

While Castiel doesn’t approve of Dean saying certain words in front of the children not to mention while he’s on the clock in front of a patient’s family and encouraging them to break rules, he makes no effort to do anything about the matter. Will and the children are too excited about Mr. Hiserly to worry about that kind of behavior anyway.

They rush through the elevator doors as soon as they are open, and make their way towards Mr. Hiserly’s room. Jo and Ellen are standing outside and both Castiel and Dean find it odd, but both can see the two women are watching inside the room with smiles on their faces. Ellen is the first to see the small army approaching and cuts them off, “Bout’ time you showed up. I was about to send out a search party. He’s talking to someone right now, but you,” she nods her head towards Will, “can go in as soon as they’ve finished. Just don’t take too long. We just gave him meds and he still needs plenty of sleep.”

Dean’s curiosity gets the better of him, “Who’s talking to him?” It comes out a bit deeper and aggressive than he means to, but the only other people who would want to see the patient is the awful bunch of family members Dean had the extreme displeasure of meeting previously. He gets his answer when he sees his own brother exiting the room with a stack of papers in one hand and his bag slipped over his shoulder.

Not seeing the confusion on Castiel’s or Will’s face, Dean steps forward to greet his brother, “Sammy? What the hell are you doing here?”

Sam removes the mask and hair cover from his head, “Just taking care of some paperwork and lose ends,” and damn does Dean think Sam looks smug. The guy looks like he just won the lottery or something. “Just got to file these and everything’s set.”

This time Dean is just as confused as Castiel and Will, and Dean’s definitely going to give Sam an earful about all his cryptic bullshit. For the time being though, he focuses on getting Will cleaned up enough to go inside the exterior section of the reverse isolation room. He explains that visitors should be minimal for now, and when Mr. Hiserly is feeling up to it the kids can see him too.

After Dean scrubs himself up, he walks in with Will as Jo, Ellen, Sam, and Castiel wait outside with the children. Once in the room, Dean sees his patient not only awake, but sitting upright for the first time since he was brought here. He hears small sobs coming from Will beside him, and he has a good idea how much Will wants to reach out to his loved one but has to settle for placing his hand on the cold glass window between them. That’s when Dean realizes that this is the first time Will has seen Ted since he was brought in. Will must be overcome with feelings right now as well as seeing the state that Mr. Hiserly is in.

The burns are covered but some are still weeping through the bandages. Dean’s not thrilled about him sitting up considering Castiel had his chest cut open no more than forty-eight hours ago, but he notices a small legal notebook and a pen in his hands. Will and Ted spend a few minutes talking and Dean can’t help but feel like he’s intruding on something. Between the “I love you”s and Will talking about how much the kids miss their daddy, he starts getting uncomfortable. When it’s too much for him, he tells Will that Ted needs his rest and he should come back first thing in the morning. Will’s eyes are streaming tears, but unlike before are now full of light and hope and love and it nearly breaks Dean to see it. The couple say their goodbyes and one more “I love you” before Dean escorts Will out of the room.

Once Will has taken the family out, Dean turns to his brother and narrows his eyes. “Alright. You want to tell me why you were in my patient’s room, Sam?”

Sam’s barely paying attention to Dean as he carefully shoves the papers into his bag, “You know normally I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I had a feeling you were going to ask so I got the okay from Mr. Hiserly himself. Ellen and Jo can attest to that.”

Jo stands up straighter and smirks, “Yep. Got to play witness and everything.”

Dean crosses his arms, “Any day you want to share what exactly would be nice.”

Sam huffs in annoyance at his brother’s lack of patience and leads the group into a small and empty room, “He wanted to update his will, and before you go making any smart comments I mean his Last Will and Testament. The guy was pretty forceful about it. He wouldn’t talk to anyone or do anything until he did. It wasn’t until I heard the story I heard out why.”

Dean motions for Sam to continue, which Sam does once the papers have been carefully tucked away in his bag. “Apparently, his father left everything to him before he died. The money, the house, and even the family cat. The Hiserly’s have been living off Ted’s inheritance and it wasn’t until now that he realized that if something happened to him there wasn’t a will of his own and the money would go to the, and I quote, ‘vultures’. The guy’s loaded Dean and now I can see why the complaint came in the other day.”

Sam’s voice drops lower and Dean has to strain to hear, “If you and Cas hadn’t managed to save him before he signed the papers in my bag today, everything would go to his family. The same family who has been, and again I quote, ‘nothing but hateful creatures who would have disowned me if I didn’t have all the money without so much as a second glance’. Now, they get nothing. If anything happens to Ted now, everything including the estate and the cat goes to Will and the kids. The Hiserly’s probably saw this coming and must have figured if he died before anything could be done, they’d get everything. You and Doctor Novak really screwed things up for them.” The large grin on Sam’s face shows Dean just how upset his brother is with him over the fiasco from the other day. “I can only assume he wanted the papers done before the Hiserly’s could do anything else.”

That last part catches Dean’s attention the most, “Sammy… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Sam sighs, but he knows better than to change the subject now. “There’s speculation that the fire Mr. Hiserly was in was arson, and while there’s nothing proven yet, he said it was the night when he told the Hiserly’s he wasn’t including them in his will. He thinks… he thinks _they’re_ the ones responsible for the fire.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	11. Chapter 11

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The anger welling up inside of Dean is almost too much to bear. What kind of family would… _could_ do such a thing to another family member. Dean can’t imagine what Mr. Hiserly is feeling right now. Being an outcast or even thrown out is one thing, but for his family to go so far as to murder him for something as petty as money is something he can’t wrap his mind around. Sure, his dad, Sam, and him have had their differences in the past. He’s still a little pissed with Sam for the whole office talk the other day, but now it seems so mundane to what his patient must be going through.

If it’s true.

Dean’s had enough experience on dealing with patients with family problems in the past, but he’s met the Hiserly’s and from what he’s seen he wouldn’t put it past them at this point. It does seem odd that his patient would want to see a lawyer before Will and the kids, but given the current circumstances he thinks it’s understandable. There’s also no telling how long Sam spent with Ted, but he would be surprised if they waited too long before getting Dean. So much drama for one patient isn’t out of the ordinary, but it’s definitely not what Dean was expecting when he came in today.

Before he can dwell too much on it, Dean, Sam, and Castiel hear yelling from outside of the room. It’s hard to make out any of the words with all of the equipment buzzing and other sounds, but Dean knows that voice. The drama is just _beginning_.

Sure enough, when the three men step outside of the small office they see the Hiserly’s causing a scene outside of Ted’s room. Among the Hiserly’s there’s also an angry looking Ellen and Jo, as well as two ‘suits.’ Dean knows he’s not supposed to refer to the directors on call as such, but if anyone sees them around it almost always means business coupled with trouble.

His anger only grows as he, Sam, and Castiel make their way over to what is undoubtedly going to be an ugly confrontation, and he has to ball his hands into fists to keep from letting it get too far out of control. Dean can make out the two suits now, and he knows it’s going to be a bad day. Of the ones he’s had to deal with in the past, these two are the ones he likes dealing with the least. As if on cue, the two turn to face them as they approach.

Fergus Crowley is the first to acknowledge them, “Hello, boys. We were just talking about you.”

The other, and former Cancer Center director, Richard Roman smiles at the three men but chooses not to say anything. Regardless, it’s still enough to make Dean’s skin crawl at the attention from the two suits.

When Crowley vocally addresses the newcomers, the rest of the group quickly turns their attention to them. If Dean thought he was angry, then the Hiserly’s are downright furious. One of the patient’s brothers steps right up to Dean and jabs one of his index fingers accusingly at the nurse’s face, “I bet it was you! You’re the filth that poisoned Ted’s mind, aren’t you?”

Just as the man goes to grab Dean by the collar of his shirt, two members of public safety arrive and immediately separate the two. Dean adjusts his shirt and throws an angry glare at the brother who threatened him. After the two from public safety break up the sudden confrontation, they stand in front of Mr. Hiserly’s room preventing anyone from entering. The mother looks like she’s been personally offended, “I demand to know what’s going on right now.”

Richard, or rather Dick, Roman claps his hands together once before interlocking his fingers and resting his hands in front of him, “I would like to say that while Mr. Hiserly’s recovery is quite miraculous, I regret to inform you that as soon as he was awake he signed the proper no pub paperwork.”

The brother from earlier goes to his mother’s side and any anger that was might have been fading comes back full force, “What the hell does that mean?”

Roman doesn’t look away from the family but points on hand in Dean’s direction. It catches Dean off guard for a second, but he realizes what Roman’s asking for, “Uh, no pub. No publicity.”

The suit smiles at Dean’s response and then points with his other hand at Castiel, “Which means?”

Castiel is taking aback just as much as Dean is, but he doesn’t catch on as quickly as Dean had. When Castiel doesn’t answer immediately, Roman turns his head to face Castiel and the smile starts to fade. The doctor finally catches on and answers, “No publicity. For any patients under special regulations, restrictions, or by request… no visitors without permission can visit the patient.”

The family seems to figure out what that means. Mr. Hiserly filled out the paperwork for no publicity so unless they have permission or the password, the family cannot see the patient or even get any updates about his condition.

Roman smiles again and looks towards the family, “Unfortunately, none of you are on the list so I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave the floor. That is unless there’s someone else you intend to visit while you’re here.”

“We have every right to-”

“I’m afraid you don’t actually,” Crowley cuts the brother off, deciding he’s had enough for the time being. “If you don’t cooperate, I’m afraid we’ll have to escort you off the premises. Or, if you’d like, we can call the authorities and see what they think?”

The Hiserly’s don’t say anything and turn to leave with the two members of public safety following behind. The more vocal brother stops and yells over his shoulder, “This isn’t the last of this!”

“Yes, yes. We’ve heard it before.” Crowley already appears bored and is more focused on cleaning and picking at his nails. “Now. As for you three, well two since we’ve already spoken to Mrs. Harvelle, we need to have a little _chat_.”

 

____________________

 

Dean can’t believe what he’s hearing. Sure, he hears the words, but they just don’t make any sense. He knows everyone has been pushing their luck lately, but he didn’t think it would amount to anything like this. Judging by the way Castiel looks, he’s not the only one.

“Now, now. Don’t give us those faces. Fortunately for you, it’s only temporary until we can get this whole ordeal straightened out,” Roman states as he holds a hand up to stop any arguments that may come from the nurse or doctor.

“You louts should be grateful it’s only temporary considering the stunt you pulled.” Dean can tell Crowley is trying his best from losing it if his red face is anything to go by. “What could you have _possibly_ been thinking when you let someone other than staff into that patient’s room?”

Castiel takes that moment to attempt to jump into the conversation, “It was the patient’s partner-”

“I don’t care if it was the bloody Queen of England! We have these protocols for a reason!” Crowley catches on that he’s yelling and takes in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself and absently pulls at the front of his suit down. “You must understand that this is a very delicate situation, and I don’t mean medically. You three have really stepped in it this time, but lucky for you our residential moose is already hard at work on the matter.” He spins around and stomps out of the room before he lets himself get too worked up again, leaving the rest to Mr. Roman.

“As we said,” That twisted smile is on Roman’s face again and Dean wants nothing more than to punch it right off his face, “the two of you and Mrs. Harvelle are on suspension until further notice while the committee reviews your behavior. We’ve already provided for your replacements so you can leave the premises at your convenience.” With that, Roman turns on his heels and exits the room leaving a shaken Castiel and a fuming Dean.

The two men stand in silence while processing all the new information. As angry as Dean is, he knows it could have been worse. They could have been fired on the spot, but there’s something odd about the whole situation. Apparently, the group hit a soft spot that the suits are not prepared to deal with right away. He does take some satisfaction that the Hiserly’s were escorted off campus by security and they can’t return to visit, so at least he doesn’t have to worry about that at least.

Dean’s pulled from his thoughts when Castiel starts making his way towards the door. The doctor still hasn’t said anything, and it worries Dean.

The nurse grabs Castiel’s arm lightly to stop him, “Hey, man. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Castiel looks up at Dean for the first time since the confrontation, “We all knew the risks. I do not regret my decision, I just…” Dean can see the sadness in the doctor’s eyes, but there’s something else. He looks lost. “My job is all I’ve ever known. I don’t know what to do now.”

That’s when it hits Dean. He’s not going to be able to do the one thing that means the most to him, second only to his family. Dean knows he did the right thing, but now he, Castiel, and Ellen are being punished for it. Dean’s not that much different from Castiel, his job is all he really knows and now that they’re faced with suspension and who knows what else, he doesn’t know what to do either.

He doesn’t know how long Castiel has been staring at him or even how long he’s been staring back, but Dean supposes it doesn’t matter now. They’ve got plenty of time to kill. Dean doesn’t know what makes him do it, but he decides to straighten out the doctor’s coat collar and tie, “We’ll figure something out, and do you always get dressed in a rush? You look like you just got out of bed.”

Castiel actually looks embarrassed by the remark and it makes Dean smile because the doctor is finally starting to be more open with him. When that doctor Balthazar was asking Dean on how he managed to befriend the “emotionless and high-strung” Castiel, Dean wanted to punch the doctor in his smug face. He’s glad he didn’t, however. Leaving him to the terrible trio was far better. Originally, Dean might have thought the same about Castiel, but he’s not emotionless. He’s just subtle if not a bit detached.

Sam’s pointed out on numerous occasions that Dean takes everything too personally, especially when a patient goes bad. Most nurses and doctors have to become detached or it will eat them away. He’s had to work in the Oncology Unit, when he volunteered to work outside his care center, and he doesn’t know how those nurses do it. Most patients on that floor are generally there for comfort measures and Dean doesn’t like giving up. As distant as Castiel seems to be, Dean can only imagine everything the doctor has been through. He finds he doesn’t like thinking about it, and decides to focus on what to do now.

As if on cue, when the two men exit the office, Jo hurries up to them with a concerned look. Chances are she knew what was going to happen before they did since she was there when the suits gave her mother the same news. Once she looks the two over, she comes to the conclusion that whatever they got was bad news. The next look she gives them is one that Dean hates, it’s pity.

Dean’s about to tell her to shove her pity in a very inappropriate place but Jo stops him, “Bar. Seven O’clock. Be there.”

“Jo-”

“Don’t ‘Jo’ me Winchester. Bar. Seven O’clock. Be there.” The fire in Jo’s eyes tell Dean that she means business. It’s also not that far off from the looks he’s seen her mother with. Luckily for him, he knows not to make a comment on that.

Dean holds up his hands in surrender, “Alright. Bar. Seven. Got it.” He smirks at Castiel, “Unless you want to tell her no, Cas?”

Castiel is about to object, but Jo turns her hard look on the doctor and his mouth snaps shut. Jo seems content enough with the response, or lack thereof one, and walks off to start work. Ellen approaches Dean and Castiel with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. Dean thinks it’s horrifying how much Jo and Ellen are alike.

“Before you ask, I took all the blame for Jo. I would appreciate it if you two backed me up on this. There’s no reason to drag her in on this too.” Ellen’s expression softens, and Dean can tell that she’s really concerned for her daughter.

“Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.” Dean shoots Ellen a wink who shoves at his shoulder and rolls her eyes, but Dean can see the tension ease away from the concerned mother.

 

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	12. Chapter 12

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The doctor and the two nurses stand around awkwardly for a minute unsure as what to do. The shift hasn’t even officially started yet, so there’s a little over twelve whole hours before the inevitable meet up with Jo and God knows who else at the bar.

Ellen, with her hands on her hips, takes a deep breath and sighs. “Alright, boys. I’ll leave you to your own devices. I’m going to start my vacation a little earlier than I planned and see if I can catch up on some of my reading. You boys try to stay out of trouble.” She smacks Dean hard on the back before chuckling to herself, “Well, any more than we’re already in.”

Dean and Castiel watch as Ellen wanders off down the hall to leave, but not before she gets stopped by a few people on the way including nurse Singer and nurse Turner. Even from here, Dean can tell Ellen is hedging around all of their questions and concerns. She turns and waves at Castiel and Dean before she steps in the elevator. Bobby Singer seems to have an internal struggle with himself, and when the elevator doors start to close he jumps in at the last minute and joins Ellen who raises an eyebrow at him but seems amused by the behavior.

When Dean turns to look back at Castiel, he notices that the doctor is watching the others with interest. It’s almost as if he’s never seen people act like that before, or rather, he’s paying attention to it for the first time. Ellen’s crowd starts to disperse and go about their jobs and clock in for the day and Castiel’s face, although minutely, drops. Dean can tell this whole suspension thing is going to bother the doctor just as much as it is going to bother him, but he doesn’t realize how much until Castiel looks towards Mr. Hiserly’s room.

Dean can see that Castiel wants to let their patient know that they’re not going to be there for him now and to at least let him know _why_ , but they both know it would be easier on everyone not to. Even though they were being dicks about it, at least Roman was living up to his name, the suits were making a fair call. Dean, Castiel, Ellen, and Jo did something they shouldn’t have and broke several rules in the process. A broken rule that could have easily caused lawsuits for a multitude of reasons including endangering the patient’s safety.

Having a No Pub on Mr. Hiserly and after being dismissed from their duties would make seeing the patient that much more difficult, not to mention disclosing the information about their impromptu meeting with the suits could be unprofessional. Besides, Crowley and Roman both said it was a suspension and that Sam was already working on clearing everything up so it’s not like it was permanent. At least, Dean hopes it’s not permanent.

Seeing Castiel standing there and looking so lost is too much for Dean and he needs to do something to change it, but he has no idea what. “How about you and me go for a walk?” His brain has no idea, but his mouth never payed much mind to his brain to begin with.

Castiel seems surprised at first, and he then carefully studies Dean’s face as if trying to see any hidden meanings or simply because Dean’s question was so strange and so unprecedented that the doctor has no idea on how to respond. His eyes squint and his brow furrow, his head tilts to the side at just an angle that Dean is trying desperately not to see the doctor much like a confused child or house pet.

Before Dean can take it back or explain, Castiel surprises the nurse when he nods to himself. “Yes. I think that’s a good idea.”

Even after all the trouble Dean has gotten them into, Castiel is still agreeing with his ideas. He’s not used to someone following him so easily. Granted, Castiel still seems to mull each one over thoroughly before making his decision, but ultimately goes along with Dean’s choice in the end. It’s more than enough to make Dean uncomfortable and that’s without Castiel’s lack of knowledge regarding personal space and intense staring. He’s already gotten used to, or given up on the latter two, but thinks he’ll never get used to the last. Dean’s always been one to follow someone else, namely his father, with a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ attitude. While he might not always agree and will actually be very vocal about things when he disagrees, he still finds he gives in at the end of things.

Yet, this time, he knowingly broke the rules because he thought he was doing the right thing and even had people backing him up on his decision. Dean’s fairly confident he would make the same choice again if he was asked, and he’s starting to question everything he never thought to until now. This doctor has somehow managed to help turn Dean’s world upside down in just a few short days. Maybe he just lacked the confidence or maybe he needed an excuse, but either way Dean knows that he’s not going to blindly take orders without thinking about them first from now on. All of this makes Dean think about why he became a nurse in the first place, he’s here to save lives and he will do what is the most important for the patient. They shouldn’t be treated like monsters and be put down just because they turn bad as much as Mr. Hiserly’s family seems to make Ted out to be. Somewhere along the way it became more about the job, something that disgusted Dean when it came to a majority of other nurses, and making his dad proud. He forgot his promise.

Maybe Mr. Hiserly wasn’t the only person Castiel saved that day.

 

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Dean and Castiel’s wandering somehow brought them to the main lobby floor. It’s still early enough in the day and just after the start of the shift that not many people are around. From where the two men stepped out of the elevator they can see the courtyard. Dean remembers when he walked in the building about how gorgeous it was outside and how much he hated stepping into the overly air-conditioned hospital. He glances at Castiel and sending nothing more than a smirk at the doctor, he starts heading for the doors outside to the courtyard.

Castiel follows closely behind Dean, and once outside Dean takes a deep breath through his nose and lets out a blissful sigh. The courtyard has just been renovated and Dean’s glad he finally has a chance to give it a look. Garden beds line up against the windows of the hospital looking inwards towards the courtyard, each one with several large and somewhat exotic looking flowers and other plants blooming. A strange fountain lies almost in the center where it spills out to the front and down several steps to a stream that runs across to the other side to a pool with a small, metal bridge crossing over the narrow space of the stream. A few birds are playing under the spray of the fountain, unbothered by Dean and Castiel’s arrival probably due to the fact the fountain itself is so far up from the ground. A spiral of landscaping bricks circle around the fountain in a crude nautilus shape forming tiers of more garden planters around it except for the steps where the water pours down the front. Fancy, new patio furniture and tables are spread throughout the desk space, but it’s not overly cluttered. There’s even a grill of all things on a concrete deck off to one of the sides, and Dean can’t help but think who would possibly grill at a hospital. While there have been social events in the past, the hospital usually orders food and has it delivered. If it’s for any event, one grill would hardly be enough.

Only one other person seems to be outside with them at the moment, and he appears to be one of the groundskeepers and focused more on the plants than the newcomers. Dean realizes he’s not the only one taking in the newly finished courtyard. Castiel almost looks like he’s smiling as he looks all around. The courtyard isn’t huge, but it’s certainly enough for the two to walk around and take in everything as they let their troubles fade for the time being. Dean smiles when he notices all the change that has been tossed in the stream when he and Castiel cross over the small bridge and fishes in his pockets for a coin or two. Castiel watches interestedly as Dean flips a quarter into the water with a soft smile.

The sound of the coin hitting the water actually draws the attention of the gardener and he turns to face the other two men. He’s a somewhat older man, with dark skin and graying hair, beard, and moustache. His wardrobe is a little out of the ordinary, but Dean just puts it off as the groundskeepers’ dress code. Simple khaki pants, and beige button up and a gray almost, brown unbuttoned shirt over the beige one that looks like it could be considered a jacket rather than a shirt. He smiles at them as he sets his gardening tools to the side,  “Good morning gentlemen.” The landskeeper looks confused for a minute before he looks down at his watch, “Shouldn’t you two be working?”

Castiel and Dean’s faces drops slightly at the question, but Dean quickly shrugs it off. “It’s… complicated.”

Brushing the dirt from his hands, the gardener stares at Dean knowingly. “I doubt it’s as complicated as you think it is, but we can leave it like that.” There’s something familiar about the man that Castiel can’t place, but he puts the thought to the back of his mind.

Dean, on the other hand, holds out one of his hands for a handshake, “I’m Dean.”

The man smiles, and Castiel swears he can see some kind of realization dawning on the groundskeeper, but the gardener makes no move to take Dean’s hand. “Nice to meet you Dean. I’m Joshua.” Still smiling, Joshua nods at Dean’s hand. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m afraid mine are a little dirty at the moment.”

Dean finally returns the smile, “Yeah, well a little dirt never hurt anyone.” The nurse knows that’s not true when it refers to some of the more ill patients, but he’s sure it gets his point across.

When Joshua gives in and takes Dean’s hand, Dean knows it has. Though judging by Castiel’s confusion, he assumes the gardener is the only one who got it. After pulling back from the handshake, Dean looks at his hand. Joshua was right. Dean’s hand is now covered in dirt and mud and he can’t help but smile. It’s been a long time since he’s had such dirty hands. His job at the hospital requires them to be as clean as possible for health reasons, but Dean remembers when he worked on cars in his spare time to help pay for his and Sam’s school loans. He’d never give up on his work as a nurse, but there are times he misses being covered in grease and working under the hood of an old car.

Both Joshua and Dean look expectantly at Castiel, and Castiel jolts slightly when he realizes he still hasn’t introduced himself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Joshua.” That name is familiar too. Castiel wishes he could remember where he’s seen Joshua before, but it just won’t come to him. “I’m Doctor Novak.”

Dean doesn’t miss how Castiel doesn’t put his own hand out, nor does he miss the doctor’s unease. He’ll have to ask what that is about later, but Dean decides that easing the tension is priority, “We just thought we’d come outside and get a bit of fresh, unsterilized air.”

Castiel nods and Joshua’s smile grows a little bit, “Well, nice to meet you Doctor Novak, and don’t worry there’s plenty of that out here.” Joshua looks hesitant and Dean can tell there’s a question on the tip of the man’s tongue.

“Something up, man? You look like you’re itching to ask something.” The nurse can’t help but be curious at the strange behavior from both Joshua and Castiel.

Joshua ponders the question a little longer before finally asking, “I know it’s a bit unorthodox to ask and we’ve only just met, but would either of you be interested in helping me? We seem to have fallen behind on maintaining the plants care.” It’s unorthodox because he’s asking them to help him do his job without any way of compensation. Additionally, Dean’s pretty sure it’s illegal to work without due compensation.

So, Dean decides to make sure it isn’t work. “Sure. I’m not afraid to get my hands a little dirty. Besides, I’ve got plenty of time to kill.”

Castiel doesn’t share Dean’s enthusiasm, however, and speaks to Dean in a low voice. “Dean, I don’t think that’s wise. We’re already in a fair amount of trouble as it stands already. I don’t think-”

The nurse slaps Castiel on the back hard, but the doctor doesn’t even flinch at the contact. In fact, Dean’s hand stings and feels as if he slapped a brick wall. Ignoring his sore hand, Dean gives Castiel his most convincing smile, “Don’t worry about it, Cas. We’re just doing a favor and helping out our new friend, Josh, out.”

He knows he shouldn’t be dragging Castiel into any more potential trouble, but this is such a small thing compared to what they’ve already done. Plus, Dean’s just trying to find more excuses to spend time with the doctor. He imagines once the bar meet up is over, Dean won’t have any reason to hang out with the doctor any more.

For a minute, Dean thinks Castiel is finally going to tell him to fuck off, but just as Castiel opens his mouth to answer Joshua speaks up again. “I would be in your debt.”

Castiel shakes his head and Dean’s heart drops a little, but the feeling is short lived when Castiel finally gives his response, “No debt required. Just a friendly favor.”

Dean beams and that small, barely noticeable smile graces Castiel’s face again. Joshua heads back to the garden planter he was working at earlier and pulls a few things to the side for Castiel and Dean. When he hands the tools over to the others, Joshua’s smile is the largest it’s been since they’ve met him. Part of Castiel can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad one.

 

____________________

 

Time seemed to fly by while the three men work diligently in the courtyard. Thereare only a few times where Dean seems to get distracted by teasing Castiel. When Castiel digs a hole, Dean immediately fills it up again when the doctor grabs the flowers to plant. This happens over four times, Castiel loses count, before the doctor get annoyed and uses his spade to flick dirt at Dean and hit him square in the face. After spitting out the dirt that gets in his mouth from when he is previously laughing, Dean blinks with a blank expression on his face.

Castiel hops Dean isn’t too upset, but he can’t help but start laughing at Dean and the face he’s making. Joshua looks over and sees Dean’s face covered in dirt and starts chuckling to himself before returning to his own work. The nurse wants to be upset, but hearing Castiel’s laugh, his honest to God laugh, ebbs his anger and embarrassment. It doesn’t take long before he’s laughing too.

Others pass in and out of the courtyard, but the three men pay little attention to them and focus on their tasks. Dean can only assume the looks he and Castiel are getting. Dean’s still in his scrubs and Castiel’s doctor coat lies over a chair near him. The two are filthy and sweat covers their brows and lines their backs, but Dean’s having too much fun to care.

It’s around eleven when someone approaches them. Dean recognizes him right away as another suit, and as far as he’s concerned, this is the one is the worst. Zachariah Adler, the company’s most weasely man working for the hospital and there’s no doubt on the ways he managed to get to where he is now. He looks worse than the last time Dean saw him, the thinning hair on the top of his head is long gone and gray on the sides where he still has it, not to mention the man certainly looks more well-fed now too.

“Well, what do we have here? I didn’t realize you two were so hard pressed to work here that you’ve resorted to digging around in the dirt.” Dean notices Zachariah’s holier-than-though personality hasn’t changed, however. “Seems an appropriate enough place for you though.”

Dean knows better than rise to his bait, but it’s never stopped him before, “Yeah, well you would know that better than anyone else wouldn’t you?”

Castiel stares wide eyed glancing between Dean and Zachariah, but refrains from commenting to avoid making matters worse. Joshua, on the other hand, slowly stands up and brushes his hands on his pants a few times.

Zachariah storms right up to Dean and growls in his face, “Listen here, worm-”

“Mr. Adler,” Joshua slowly walks up to the confrontation, “Is there something I can help you with, or are you just trying to continue scaring away all my help?”

Dean glances over at Joshua, but he doesn’t miss how Zachariah immediately backs away and shares the look Castiel had on his face when Dean started letting his mouth run off.

“Sir!” Zachariah’s step falters as he’s backing away, “What are you doing here?”

One of Joshua’s eyebrow rises at the question, “I thought it was obvious, Mr. Adler. I’m _so hard pressed for work that I’m digging around in the dirt_.”

Dean manages to muffle out his laugh to a not-so-subtle cough as the flustered Zachariah stutters, “That’s… What I meant to say is-”

“We know what you meant.” Joshua stands up a bit taller and Dean can’t help but feel a little intimidated by him. “Now, was there something you needed, or will that be all?”

A deep intake of breath comes from the side pulls Dean’s attention away to see that Castiel is staring at Joshua as fearful as Zachariah. Dean feels like he’s missing out on something huge, but it doesn’t seem that he’s going to be getting any answers from the other two any time soon so he decides to ask the source directly, “Um, you want to clue me in here, Josh?”

Zachariah sputters a few times at the nickname, but stops when Joshua cuts in, “Nothing to worry about, Mr. Winchester. Good day, Mr. Adler.”

Something inside of Dean panics. He never gave Joshua his full name, and yet he knew his last name. Taking his hint to exit, Zachariah quickly scurries off to undoubtedly harass someone else leaving Castiel and Dean alone with Joshua again.

“Thank you both for helping me out today, but I think with it becoming so busy we should call it a day.” Joshua starts collecting his tools and once everything is packed away he waves once before he starts walking away. “See you boys later.”

It isn’t until Joshua walks inside and is out of sight before Dean elbows Castiel, “You wanna tell me what that was all about?”

Castiel straightens up and takes a deep breath before answering, “That man, Joshua, is the hospital's COO.”

Dean still looks lost and the irritation is starting to visibly show, “The what now?”

“The Chief Operating Officer. Lately, the CEO has been letting others run most of the matters. _Joshua_ has been pretty much the one running everything lately and acting out as the eyes and ears of the CEO.”

Castiel can see everything coming into place on Dean’s face as he replies, “Fuck.”

The doctor grabs his coat from the chair. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Is it seven yet? I could really use a drink.” Dean rubs his eyes and immediately groans when he realizes how dirty his hands are.

Regardless of the situation, Dean’s comment still manages to make Castiel chuckle. “On any other day I would argue with you on that, but I am much inclined to agree with you right now.” When Castiel glances over at Dean and sees his face covered in dirt and sweat, he looks down at his own hands and notices the same filth on them and now his coat. “But perhaps we should wash up first.”

“No argument here. How about we run home and clean up and meet up somewhere for lunch?” Dean thinks he’s pushing it, but he’s still looking for ways to monopolize Castiel’s time, “It’ll be my treat for putting you through all that.”

Castiel nods and pulls out a pen and a piece of paper and jots down a number, and Dean has to work hard to keep from smiling too much. A phone number is definitely a good sign from moving from being co-workers and acquaintances. It isn’t until Castiel is gone before Dean thinks about how weird Dean’s invitation was, but decides not to dwell too much on it for now.

 

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The nurse is making his way back to his home unit to grab his gear, and getting lots of odd looks along the way, which really shouldn’t come as a surprise. He is pretty filthy and wouldn’t doubt that his hard work helping the frickin’ COO garden made him smell a little too. He decides to take the stairs so no one has to share an elevator with him, but another familiar face rounds around the corner just before he makes it to the stairwell.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite bloodsucker.” The man looks up when Dean addresses him with a loud slurping sound coming from his juice box as he does so.

“Dean?” Smiling, the man tosses his empty drink in the trash bin not too far off to the side. His smile quickly disappears when he notices the state of Dean’s clothes, and everything else. “What did you do? Did ya roll around in the dirt or somethin? And I’m telling Gordon that I’m your favorite by the way.”

“Or something about covers it.” He doesn’t have time to run his friend down with all the details, and he’s still not certain what he can disclose so decides to leave it at that. “So how’s the office doing, Benny?”

Benny’s grin is all teeth and there’s times where Dean swears the guy really is a vampire and it’s not hard to picture the nurse from New Orleans with fangs. “Oh, it’s good. We’re always looking for new victims though. We have that blood drive coming up too, so that should help bring in some extra units. Speaking of which…”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. I told you I’d think about it. You know with the way you and Gordon hound me, I’m starting to feel like you guys just love me for my body fluids.” Dean still hasn’t told Benny the real reason he hasn’t been in to donate, but he’s not sure how to broach the subject.

“Just your blood. You can keep the rest of your body fluids to yourself.” Benny snickers and nods to a passerby who greets him. Dean glances at his watch and Benny smirks, “Am I keepin you from something?”

“Sorry, man. Not that I don’t love talking to you, but I’ve got me a hot date I don’t want to be late for.”

Benny chuckles, “Lucky girl.”

Dean winces when he realizes what he’s said, “No, man. Nothing like that.” He honestly has no clue where that comment came from, or more importantly why he didn’t even try to correct himself in the first place. “Meeting up with a friend.”

“Oh, I gotcha brotha.” Benny winks and Dean internally groans. He really didn’t mean it that way, but Dean knows he doesn’t exactly have the great rap sheet when it comes to dating. At least he said it to Benny. Like Dean, Benny doesn’t care much for gossip and tries to stay away from it whenever possible. He’s especially thankful that Benny didn’t bring up anything about the fact it’s only lunchtime and Dean’s leaving.

The blood donor nurse looks over Dean concerned and points in Dean’s general direction. “But you should probably wash up a bit before you two meet up, yeah?”

Pulling at his scrub shirt, Dean surveys just how bad it is, “That’s why I should probably be going.”

Benny nods and sticks his hands in his pockets, “You won’t mind if we skip the handshake? Some of us still have jobs to do and I don’t really know where those filthy hands of yours have been.”

Dean laughs at that, grabbing a few people’s attention as they pass. “Man, are you kidding? If I saw you like this, I probably wouldn’t come within five feet of you. I want to commend you on just talking to me with so many witnesses. Anyway, I’ll catch you later.”

The two say their farewells and Dean starts his trek up the stairs to his floor. He just hopes Missouri isn’t lurking anywhere nearby. Unlike Benny, she will want every detail about why Dean’s going to be absent.

As if the suspension wasn’t bad enough, it seems the world is against him when he sees the very charge he was dreading on dealing with at the main desk. On top of that, she’s talking with Will. Dean’s trying to think of a way to get past the two without being noticed, but good ol’ Missouri’s psychic senses doesn’t give Dean the chance and she turns to see him standing lamely in the doorway.

“Here it comes.” Dean mumbles to himself and braces for the worst.

“Boy! What in heaven’s name did you get into now?” Will jumps slightly at the sudden and loud outburst by the charge nurse. Missouri brushes past Will as if he’s no longer there. “You wanna explain to me why I had to send another nurse to the heart hospital behind your back for reasons those pig-headed suits won’t give me and why you’re only coming back now looking like that?”

Dean sees Will suddenly interested in the conversation, and he leans in and whispers to Missouri, “Can I talk to you?”

“We’re talkin now, aren’t we?” She holds up one of her index fingers when Dean tries to interrupt, “Shut it. Now what did you do?”

“I don’t think-”

“You never do. How bad is it?” The angry charge crosses her arms and waits expectantly. Dean glances over at Will again before staring back down at the ground. Missouri grabs a folder nearby and smacks Dean with it.

“Ow!” He finds it remarkable how she can make something like a flimsy folder hurt so damn much.

Missouri points at Will and then at the waiting room, “Alright, I’ll deal with you in a minute.” Then she smacks Dean with the folder again and even harder than before, “And _you_ are going to tell me everything.”

He does, or at least he gives as much information as he can without disclosing anything regarding the patient. Dean doesn’t need to break any more rules that could cost him his job. However, he does bring up the business in the courtyard including his smart ass comment to Zachariah that earns him an icy glare.

 

____________________

 

After Dean pretty much spills everything he waits for Missouri’s violent and vocal response, but it doesn’t come. She sits patiently and she mulls the information over her head nodding and her lips pursing in thought. It’s completely unusual and Dean is actually more uncomfortable that she’s not reacting in the way he would consider normal for her.

“So. It’s just temporary then?” She’s frowning now, but Dean can’t tell if it’s directed at him or the situation.

“ _For the time being_ is what they said,” Which could mean anything really. Dean just hopes it doesn’t go from being temporary to permanent, especially since he managed to drag others in his mistake.

“Good.” Dean looks up at Missouri shocked when she speaks up again. “There will be hell to pay if they try anything more than that. That big mouth of yours has always been a problem, but you’re one of the best we have and, to be frank, it sounds like you all took the proper procedures to ensure the patient’s safety. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong.”

Dean is floored. He’s never heard these kind of things from Missouri before, “You think I’m one of the best?” He can’t help the cheeky smile from spreading.

She narrow her eyes at Dean, “I also said you’ve got a knack for running your mouth into trouble, so don’t let it go to your head.”

That’s probably the best he’s ever going to get from her, but he’s more than willing to take it,  “Thanks, Mo.”

“Call me that again, and I will tan your hide.” For a minute, Dean believes her. “Now, go and hurry up for your date.”

Dean sputters a few times at that and he tries to correct her but when he follows her behind a corner she’s already half way down the hall.

 

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	13. Chapter 13

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When Dean gets to his car he grimaces at the thought of getting his baby’s driver seat dirty. Tossing his bag in the car’s trunk, he digs out an old button up shirt and towel. Dean removes his scrub shirt and tosses it on top of his bag but leaves his white under shirt on. Instead of putting the shirt from the trunk on, he stretches it around the driver’s seat of the impala as best as he can and lays the towel on the seat. It’s far from perfect in his eyes, but it will have to do and he’s just thankful that he doesn’t live far from the hospital.

Dean’s thankful that there isn’t much traffic and, because he’s not in a rush for once, he takes his time. It’s been far too long since he’s simply enjoyed driving his baby around without being in a mad rush to get somewhere. Within the first few blocks, he already feels the tension and stress of the day, hell the year, slipping away. His shoulders loosen, and a small smile slowly appears. His windows are down, his left arm resting over the edge, and his music plays only loud enough so he can still hear the sounds of the engine purring.

How long has it been since Dean has had time to himself like this? He’s been working practically non-stop and to the bone it’s no wonder that he’s such a mess. “Dammit,” a frown replaces his small smile when he finally realizes that Sam was right. _Again_. Dean was more concerned about his patients than his own well-being. He can only imagine the damage he’s done to his own body by overworking it all the time. As much as he would rather focus on helping patients, he knows he’s no good if he’s falling apart himself.

Maybe some good can come out of this whole mess.

 

____________________

 

When Dean pulls up in his driveway he takes a few more moments to simply sit in the car before turning off the engine. Dean takes a deep breath and exits the car, making sure to grab the shirt and towel as he goes. As he starts to head to his trunk he pauses. It’s as if everything finally hits him at once. There’s no rush to get his bag. Sure there are some dirty clothes, but it’s not as if he needs anything else from his bag right now. He’s not going to need it anytime soon from the sounds of it.

Dean jingles his keys in his hand a couple times as he debates with himself, but in the end he decides to leave the bag in the trunk for the time being. He doesn’t think he can bear with the thought of seeing it sitting out and unused quite yet.

As he’s unlocking the front door, he keeps thinking back to Mr. Hiserly and his _wonderful_ family. While he doesn’t care much for the family, he wishes he could have done something for Will and the kids. At the very least tell them what happened, but he’s in enough trouble as it is. He’s so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t hear one of his neighbors calling out to him, until they’re already over to the porch and gently shaking his shoulder.

“Dean? Are you okay?” Dean jolts at the sudden contact and voice. When he turns he sees a very concerned Linda Tran who responds much like Dean when he jumps.

Mrs. Tran has been living here longer than Dean has, with her son Kevin who is currently a med student at the same hospital. Linda always talks to Dean about him, and Dean’s pretty certain he knows more about the kid than the rest of his family. The kid’s smart. Scarily so. Dean has found himself talking about things that most nurses couldn’t follow him on, but Kevin could word for word. Mrs. Tran said something about Advanced Placement or something. He’s probably seen Kevin more than his mom has ever since Kevin found out he was a nurse. The kid’s always coming over to Dean’s place whenever Dean gets home from work, and he’s pretty certain he and Sam would get along great.

Nerds.

Dean huffs a laugh to himself before he can stop himself. He probably shouldn’t be laughing at Kevin when his mom is standing on his porch looking so worried at him. “Uh, sorry, Mrs. Tran. I’m a little out of it.”

Linda crosses her arms and Dean knows that look. That’s the mom look. There’s no way he’s getting out of this without spilling every gory detail. “I can tell. I called to you like ten times before I walked over here.” Her eyes narrow and Dean can’t help himself from slowly easing away from her. “Why are you home so early? Are you sick?”

“No, no. I’m not sick.” Dean laughs softly when he remembers the last time he got sick, Mrs. Tran came over three times every day to make sure Dean was taken care of and even cooked for him and cleaned up the house. He may or may not have pretended to be sick an extra day or two that week. “It’s just…”

The serious tone in Dean’s voice has Linda uncrossing her arms and her worry from before returns. She doesn’t say anything yet, and lets Dean take his time before continuing.

Dean takes a deep breath and sighs, looking down and scratching his forehead as he looks for the words. He still has Linda’s complete attention when he looks up again, “I’m going to be on vacation for a bit.” It’s not a complete lie per se, but Dean still hates himself a bit for saying it.

“Bullshit.” Dean double takes at the curse. “I know you, and you don’t take vacations. I’ve never even heard of you taking more than one day off at a time and that’s only when they force you. So help me, if they fired you I will go up there and kick their-”

“Mrs. Tran. Mrs. Tran! They didn’t fire me.” Nothing permanent for now at least, but that’s something Dean doesn’t want to think about currently. “It’s a little complicated, but if you want to know, I’ll tell you.” The last thing he wants is his neighbor threatening his employers on his front lawn no more than a couple hours since his suspension.

Linda gestures for Dean to walk in the house, and really he should have seen this coming. She’s going to want to hear every single detail and now. Even if they both had something else to do, and it’s possible Mrs. Tran did, she would make them drop everything they were doing until she heard the whole story.

Dean steps inside the house and holds the door open for Mrs. Tran who quickly steps inside and immediately goes down the stairs and sits at the table. She’s been in Dean’s house several times and has long gotten past the “make yourself comfortable” phase and into “second home” phase. Dean kind of likes that though. He’s hardly ever at his own house and he’s glad that some people are getting some use out of it. Linda sometimes watches the house whenever Dean’s working several doubles in a row and stays over at the hospital, and Kevin uses it whenever he just wants to get away from his mother to study. Sometimes that doesn’t even work because they both have keys and Linda’s not above using them to find her son. Dean’s pretty sure Sam uses his house more than he does too because whenever he works late he comes to Dean’s place because it’s much closer than his own house.

For a house he hardly uses, he’s starting to think he spent too much money on it. Dean’s never really had any big purchases and he takes care of his own car, but he needed an excuse to work so much. Sam still didn’t buy the excuse in the end, and now Dean is stuck with a huge ass house, and boy is it huge. It’s doesn’t look that big on the outside, but the house sits on a large, grassy hill that Dean pays someone else to mow because as Dean told Sam when he bought the house, “fuck that shit.” The house sits on the corner of their part of the neighborhood and overlooks the lake.

The lake is what sold it for him in the end. He had a later showing for the house when the sun was just starting to slip behind the horizon and the whole lake lit up and could be seen from any of the back rooms including where he was at the time, the master bedroom. It was unnerving at first. The reds, oranges, and yellows that flickered across the water and across the room. It was almost too much that Dean tried to look away, but he was frozen or at least frozen until the sun started setting, taking away the bold colors with it. He watched the sun set until the “fire” was gone. The sun would be and still is a constant reminder of what he and his father do. Every day they keep going, they keep putting out fires and taking care of the ones who have suffered them and that makes every day worth fighting for.

He’ll never tell Sam that though.

Not to say the house itself wasn’t spectacular. The house is so large that Dean is still finding new rooms and closets even after how long he’s been living there. When first entered, the first and main room opens up to a walkway and staircase leading to and around the room. Tall windows with bar and chevron patterned framed were interspaced throughout. He thought it looked like a factory slash bomb shelter at first, but he kind of liked that it was so different from all the previous cookie-cutter houses he had seen before.

The second room, which was just beyond the first, looked more like a library. Large, stone columns line the room and the walls are brick instead of simple drywall or concrete. Light fixtures line along the columns while light globes hung from the ceiling. It even had a freaking card catalogue of some kind.  He never asked why the house came furnished like this, but he guessed it had something to do with finding people who knew what the stuff was let alone who would want it or something that. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t think the antique swords in the library, the backgammon table and chairs on the loft area, and the ancient film reel weren’t cool as hell though. In the end, he left the bookcases that lined around the room and the other strange antiques that were left behind. He has no idea what half the stuff is, but it all looks cool so he left it. He knows he could probably sell the stuff off, but then that’s more money than he knows what to do with and finding buyers would probably take time because telling someone you’re trying to sell an “old, huge ass computer thing” probably wouldn’t fly so well.

Once Dean had moved in he placed a wooden table and matching chairs in the center of the second room. Other than that, changing to a more energy efficient light bulbs for the library because Dean always thinks damn there’s a lot of lights in that room, and letting Sam take his pick from the maps from the first room and the books from the second, he left the room as he bought it.

His bedroom was another matter. He chose not to move into the master bedroom and opted for a room somewhere closer and in between the front door and kitchen. It’s small by the rest of the house’s standards, but Dean thinks it’s good enough and easily his favorite room in the house. He didn’t really own much in the way of furniture or other belongings before he bought the house and only bought a few things after because most of it was already furnished.

The outermost wall of the room is brick, and the house really is a pain to heat because of all the brick and stone, with wooden dressers and a double bed. He still had a lot of money saved up so he splurged a bit more and got a memory foam mattress to which Dean prided himself on and even told Sam when showing him around the house with a huge grin, “It remembers me.” Sam only rolled his eyes at Dean’s ridiculous spending, but in time Sam grew to really love the place and started frequenting more and more. Sam had also complained when Dean started collecting antique guns and mounted them on the wall in his room and to at least put them somewhere safe like a gun locker. Needless to say, Dean didn’t listen.

Everything else in the room is simple and only basic needs with the exception of the photo that rests on the base of a small lamp on Dean’s nightstand. It’s the only photo he has of him and his mother. He was only about four years old in the photo and sitting on his mother’s lap while his mother hugs him from behind. Until he bought the house, he kept the photo in his wallet but finally removed it when he saw the damage that was being caused from being folded up inside.

The kitchen is probably Dean’s second favorite place to be in the house. When living in a small apartment with his father and brother, there wasn’t space or money to make proper meals so they tended to eat a lot of junk and fast food. Now isn’t very different considering he works, or rather worked, so much and so often. On his days off, however, and especially around the holidays he spends a large amount of his time cooking. One time, for the Fourth of July he grilled and cooked enough food for the entire block. Everyone came down and sat in his back yard watching the fireworks over the lake including Sam and the Trans. It’s been one of the best holidays he can remember.

It has the same matching wood furniture that matches the rest of the furnishing throughout the house in the pantries and drawers. Then there’s the black, marble counter tops for the sink, the island preparation table in the center, and the breakfast bar that surrounds it. The floor has dark, slate grey tiles and has a faint, almost swirling pattern and Dean loves it because the tiles are not flat, but stick out a bit in places like large rocks would and are rough with a soft, sandy feel to it when he walks around barefoot. It grips enough so he never has to worry about slipping, but it’s still relatively easy to clean. Whenever he can actually get around to cleaning that is. He’s pretty sure that Mrs. Tran cleans it more than he does, but she never complains about it and usually when she doesn’t like something she makes a point of letting Dean know all about it. Dean’s surprised by it though. He would have thought a floor like this would be a nightmare to clean, but the realtor said something about it and Dean was too busy gawking at the sight to listen. The refrigerator, freezer, and washing machine are the same black as the marble tops and are easily twice the size of the appliances that he had when he was living with John and Sam.

Dean was comparing the size of his vegetable and crisper drawers to the size of their entire old apartment refrigerator when Linda pulls out the chair next to her causing the feet to drag across the floor and make a loud sound pulling Dean from his wandering thoughts again. He blinks and shakes his head slightly and makes his way down the stairs to the weird map table sitting in the middle of the room.

Surprisingly, Mrs. Tran is patient at first, which Dean is thankful for. It takes a while before Dean can speak up, but when he finally starts talking, everything just seems to flow out. There were times he had to stop talking and try to restrain his neighbor from calling everyone ranging from his brother, the press, and even the hospital CEO. When she physically had her hands on the phone and started dialing, Dean stopped laughing and immediately launched himself at the small woman to pry the phone away. Linda Tran turns out to be a lot stronger than she looks and Dean thinks he’s going to have a few bruises by tomorrow. He is also assuming the words that came out of her mouth weren’t exactly friendly.

Once he has managed to put the phone far out of reach and told the whole story, he sees Mrs. Tran’s eyes are a little glassy and the anger has calmed down dramatically. She gets up from her chair, which she had been fuming in ever since Dean took the phones away, and leans down to hug Dean. He jerks in his chair at first, but relaxes when he realizes he really needs this, chick flick moment or not.

Linda pulls away just enough so she can stare Dean in the eyes and places a hand on his cheek to make sure he is looking back, “I’ve never met her, but I know your mother would be so proud of you right now. Just like I am.”

Dean most certainly doesn’t cry, and Mrs. Tran will never tell anyone otherwise.

 

____________________

 

Dean and Mrs. Tran spend the rest of the afternoon cooking lunch, in which Kevin joins them just as they’re cleaning up afterwards. Kevin distracted Dean with his studies for a bit until Mrs. Tran changed the topic to what Dean’s been up to lately even though she already knows the worst of it. The young medical student was confused at first, but let it go and listened as Dean started talking about his new doctor friend. After that, Kevin seemed to want to know everything about the doctor and if there’s any chance he’ll visit so he can meet him.

It’s already five thirty before Dean knows it, and lets the Trans know that he’s got to be getting ready for a meet up at the bar and he’s still filthy from earlier. Dean sees the two to the door and Linda gives him another hug causing her son to raise an eyebrow at the gesture.

Dean huffs a laugh at the look on Kevin’s face, “What? You want a hug too?”

Kevin’s lips curl in disgust and he backs away a step, “Dude. No offense, but you’re gross right now. Do I even want to know what you were practically rolling in?” As soon as the words leave his mouth, his mother smacks him on the back of the head and glares at him. Kevin’s holding his head, and Dean knows from experience now that must have hurt.

He can’t help but push the kid, “Does that mean you want a rain check?”

The comment actually gets Kevin to laugh a little, “I’ll pass. See you later, Dean.”

“See ya, kid.” He nods towards Mrs. Tran, “Thanks again, Mrs. Tran.”

 

____________________

 

Dean knows he doesn’t need an hour and a half to get ready, but even with all the comforting from the Trans, he really just wanted to be alone for a bit. He finally peels out of his clothes and decides to throw them all directly into the washer instead. It’s his own house, so he can walk around naked if he wants to. If anyone is looking, screw em’. Although, he probably should have at least grabbed a robe because he already forgot how cold some of these rooms get and how big the house is. He was only half joking when he said he wanted to get a golf cart or something to go from one of the house to the other. How does this place even stay clean?

He makes a quick stop off at his room to grab his bathrobe and some fresh, clean clothes. After what feels like hours of just walking through his own damn house, he finally makes it to the master bedroom, which holds his third favorite room: the master bathroom. Normally, Dean uses the bathroom just right down the hall from his room, but every once in a while he pampers himself a little bit by hiking all the way to the master bath.

The bathroom is bigger than the room he sleeps in, which is ridiculous in his opinion, but he doesn’t complain. The walls are a deep red color, which matches the chairs by the backgammon table on the loft area by the front door, and the carpets and comforter on the bed in the master bedroom. The two sinks and the Jacuzzi bathtub are soft cream colors with gold and matching cream color handles. The floor is tiled in a slightly whiter cream color with intricate mosaic patterns of tiles in black and gold much similar to the designs on the stone part of the floor in the library. Dean thinks it looks a bit satanic, which could be part of the reason he got the house significantly cheaper than he thought it would be. At that price, he was certain the place would be haunted or something. Behind the tub there’s a large shower with four different sprays. Dean had made fun of the thing when he first saw it, because who the hell needs four shower heads in one shower, but the first night he stayed in the house he ran all four at once and the pressure was so amazing and all perfectly spread over that he refused to get out until the water turned cold. Even then, it was still hard getting out.

Speaking of showers, that sounded like the best idea right now.

 

____________________

 

Dean whistles as he starts heading back to his bedroom, but pauses as he passes one of the tall mirrors that hangs in the hallway. He looks over himself a few times and frowns. As he’s making his way back to his room he checks the watch he remembered to grab along with his clothes. He still has about half an hour before everyone is meeting up at the bar and no one’s ever on time so there’s no rush.

Quickly walking into his room, he starts looking through his drawers and closet for something else to wear. Since when has he had so many plaid shirts and jeans? He has to have something nicer than this. He stumbles across his suit, but immediately rules that out because they’re going to a bar, not a fucking prom. Dean stops rummaging through his clothes at his most recent thought. Why the hell would he dress up for a meet at their usual haunt? Is it because Castiel is going to be there? Is Dean subconsciously trying to impress him? And what if he was? There’s no way the others aren’t going to notice. He’ll never hear the end of it.

Dean settles for a plain, black tee and a newer pair of jeans that are a dark, blue denim and fit snug tightly on his hips. He spikes his hair up without any product in an attempt to draw too much attention. Once he deems himself worthy enough, he checks his watch again to see that’s it’s already five to seven. He stands dumbfounded for a minute at the fact he had spent that much time just looking for something to wear for what’s supposed to be a regular night out.

Sighing, he puts everything to the back of his mind for the time being, and grabs his leather jacket while heading to the door. He could really use a drink right now.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a little artistic liberty with parts of the bunker. I hope no one minds. That and the whole having neighbors thing. I thought Dean needed some (awesome) neighbors.


	14. Chapter 14

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

The drive isn’t as calming as it was on the way home, but that’s mostly due to the traffic from everyone getting off their shifts at the hospital. A sharp twist in his stomach pulls at him when he drives by the hospital. If shit hadn’t hit the fan the way it did earlier this week, he’d just be leaving himself. With the traffic, and getting stopped at what felt like every light on the way, it takes him a little over twenty five minutes to get to the bar.

It’s still early enough that the lot isn’t packed, but it’s certainly starting to pick up. He doesn’t see any cars that he can recognize, but he doesn’t know what Castiel’s car looks like or who all is coming. Knowing Jo, it’s going to be a lot more than just a few.

He glances around the bar until his eyes finally find a recognizable face, or rather messy, brown hair. Not only that, but the poor guy looks miserable sitting at a table by himself. Dean catches Castiel looking at his watch before standing up from the table, and that’s all it takes to make Dean all but rush over to the table.

The doctor turns to look at Dean when he hears the nurse apologizing behind him, “Shit, Cas, I’m sorry man. I should have told you. None of us show up on time for anything other than work.” Dean frowns when Castiel doesn’t say anything, “I wasn’t thinking and got caught up with something and… fuck.” How is Dean supposed to say the reason he was late because he was trying to find something to wear that would impress Castiel, and not to mention he’s already screwing that chance up majorly.

Dean starts to feel himself begin to panic until he sees that almost invisible smile thing that Castiel does, “Hello, Dean.”

“I know,” Dean releases the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “I’ll buy your drinks tonight to start making up for it.”

“You don’t have to-” but Castiel is cut off when Dean gives him a hard look and points a finger in his face.

Castiel sits back down and Dean smiles as he sits down next to him in the booth. The two men sit in silence for a minute before Dean realizes he should be getting drinks like he said he was going to. As he is sliding back out of the booth, he removes his jacket and sets it where he was sitting, “So what’s your poison?”

When Dean doesn’t hear an immediate response he looks back at Castiel. “Cas?”

The doctor jolts and Dean thinks he almost looks guilty for something, but before he can ask about it Castiel interrupts him, “I’m sorry?”

“Your poison? What do you want to drink, Cas?” Something tells Dean he should really ask what the hell that all was about, but pushes it to the side to focus more on the prospect of drinking. He’s been wanting one since around seven this morning.

“Whatever you’re getting will be fine, thank you.” Castiel seems so lost, and Dean has to wonder how often the guy gets out to do stuff like this.

Dean gives Castiel one last questioning look and then heads off to the bar to order some drinks, “I’ll be right back.”

 

____________________

 

At the bar, Dean waves one of the two servers and grabs a menu while he’s ordering drinks. Against his better judgment he orders a lot of drinks, but tells himself he’s making up for it when he gets a waitress’ attention and orders some food too. The waitress takes his order and Dean points at the booth he and Castiel are at.

Dean’s smile, he didn’t even know he was smiling up to that point, disappears when he sees Castiel surrounded by other people. At first he’s bummed that he lost any chance for more one on one time with the doctor, but it’s suddenly replaced with fear when he makes out two blondes and a red head already laughing and chatting away. Of course it had to be them, and the moment Dean left him alone no less.

Grabbing the first two ready drinks and asking the waitress to bring the rest over in a bit, Dean makes his way back to the booth. A bright, white flash slows him down briefly before he’s aware the girls are probably taking photos. Sure enough, when Dean gets to the table, the three girls are all scrunched up against the doctor with a Charlie’s camera phone stretched way out in front of them.

Another flash.

Dean’s “Fight or Flight” instincts are kicking in, something that's becoming more and more frequent around the girls, and he knows this may be his one and only chance to get away from what is bound to be a very embarrassing confrontation, but that would leave Castiel at the mercy of three very scary women. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, but in the end he decides to do what he can to rescue the doctor from the overly excited girls… again, and this time without a scapegoat. There’s no doubt in his mind that he’s going to question his sanity over this later.

When Dean approaches the booth, he places the tray of drinks down on the table, mentally cringing when all eyes are suddenly on him. Castiel looks slightly relieved when he first sees Dean, but fear is still the most prominent feature on his face. As for the girls, there’s an eerie twinkle in the girl’s eyes and he’s not sure what to make of that. Not until he spots a couple of books sitting on the table in front of them.

“Oh, no. No no no.” Dean shakes his head and then reaches for Castiel in an attempt to pull him over Charlie sitting on his left, “You are not dragging Cas into your weird-ass book cult.”

All three girls look offended by Dean’s comment, which brings a short lived satisfaction until Charlie pulls Castiel back down in his seat and sending Dean a glare, “It’s not a weird-ass book cult.” Castiel sits back down in his seat, albeit stiffly, as Charlie puffs up and raises her chin at Dean. “And for your information we haven’t said a word about it to Castiel.”

Jo smirks and reaches for one of the shots from the tray Dean brought over, “But now that you bring it up, that’s not a bad idea, Dean.”

Dean frowns and points angrily at the blond, “No.”

To which Jo nods her head with a large, mocking grin as she lifts the glass to her mouth, “ _Yes_.”

Charlie seems to get the same idea as Jo and her eyes fall on the tray of drinks, “Ooo!” She reaches for what looks like a cocktail, but pulls it back quickly as if she was burned when Dean smacks her hand away. Even though it was a light tap, she stares wide-eyed at Dean and her mouth drops open.

Dean reaches over the table to grab the drink from Jo, “Those aren’t for you.”

He’s not quick enough though, and Jo downs the shot and gives Dean the empty glass with the same large grin she gave him before. “Well then, better hop to getting us some more before we drink them all.”

“Like hell I’m going to leave Cas with you crazy girls for another second.” Dean drops the shot glass on the table and gestures towards Castiel. “Poor guy looks terrified for his life.”

Jo wraps an arm around Castiel’s shoulder as the doctor looks at the girls around him through the corner of his eyes. “He’ll be fine, Dean. We’ll take good care of him.”

Dean doesn’t want to think about the feelings bubbling up inside him about Jo hanging all over the doctor and pushes past it for now. Instead, he starts pulling at Charlie again who immediately clings around Castiel and tries kicking one of her legs at him. Unfortunately for Charlie, Dean gets a good hold on the leg flailing itself in Dean’s direction and starts pulling her from the booth, “Oh, no you don’t. I don’t trust any of you for a second. If anyone is going to take care of Cas, it’s me.”

Everyone suddenly freezes and Dean drops Charlie’s leg against the booth seat with a soft thump. Warning bells start blaring in Dean’s mind, and with the pause from the others, he can only imagine what’s going through their heads. He should have ran when he had the chance.

“Awwww!” All three girls coo in that disgusting way Dean hates. He would be relieved to see both Jo and Charlie disentangling themselves from Castiel if he saw it, but he’s already running back to the bar for more drinks.

Stupid girls.

 

____________________

 

Dean’s been over at the bar for at least ten minutes before someone pats him on the shoulder twice before joining him to sit at the bar. When he turns around he sees Benny already in his casuals.

“How’s it going, brotha?” Benny taps his hat in Dean’s direction. “Somethin’ you want to share with me?”

Closing his eyes and frowning, Dean takes a deep breath to steel himself for what’s going to be a long conversation. There are very few people he planned on telling, but he trusts Benny like family and it already sounds like he knows something is up. He takes a swig of his beer and then rubs his hands over his face. “Man, to be honest, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to tell you.” There’s a pause as Dean stares down at the remainder of his drink through the thick glass. “Can I at least ask how much you know and who told you?”

“Not much and who else?” Benny smirks as he waves over one of the servers.

“Jo.” Dean huffs a laugh at the thought of already knowing who was responsible. She was probably the one who invited Benny in the first place. “Well, can you give me a little more to go on. I mean other than Jo.”

“Jo actually didn’t say much,” Benny waits to finish his thought to order a beer. “I knew something was up when I saw you and a doctor playing gardener in the courtyard. That kind of thing sets all sorts of warnings.”

Dean hadn’t realized that people saw him and Castiel out in the courtyard, but with all of the windows it would be amazing if everyone didn’t know something was going on. Fuck. What if the EDONs (Executive Directors of Nursing) saw? Sure they were helping Joshua, and now knowing who he is makes this whole thing even weirder, but Dean’s pretty certain there were a number of times where their behavior, or at least Dean’s, went way beyond professional.

“I can’t go into the details obviously, but at the very least I can tell you that there’s a few of us that won’t be around the hospital until things get sorted out.” Dean doesn’t miss how Benny’s posture straightens or how the small smile from before thins. “I’m not worried about it though,” he’s lying but hopes that his friend won’t catch it, “Sammy’s on it and I’m sure everything will be back to normal in no time.”

The look on Benny’s face tells Dean that he wants to push it further, but to Dean’s relief Benny drops the conversation. His relief is short lived when Benny smirks and decides to discuss another subject Dean doesn’t wish to talk about at the moment. “Speaking of you and the doc frolicking in the courtyard…”

Dean chokes a little on the last gulp of his beer, “What? Dude, there was no frolicking.”  
“Oh, really? Me, several other nurses, and a photo on Ms. Rosen’s phone would beg to differ on that one.”

“I don’t frolic!” A couple of people turn to stare at Dean’s almost yelling and odd choice in conversation. One of them is unfortunate to catch Dean’s eye, “What are you looking at?” Benny starts laughing and Dean’s decided he’s had enough teasing from this end of the bar and makes his way back over to the other nuisances in the room.

He catches Castiel mumbling something followed by laughter from the girls and he remembers the reason he walked away from them in the first place. Ignoring the new attention from the people sitting at the booth, Dean sticks his hand out in Becky’s direction.

Jo completely disregards Dean’s demanding attitude, “Finished sulking, Winchester?”

He’s still not going to acknowledge any of them until he gets what he came over here for. Dean opens and closes his hand at Becky indicating her to give him something. “Hand it over.”

Becky stares wide eyed at Dean and then over to the girls who only look back confused. Rather then giving Dean what he wants, she fumbles with her phone in her hands for a few seconds before Dean heard two different beeps. The beeps made both Jo and Charlie jump in their seats and scramble to look at their phones.

This time Dean’s eyes widen, “You didn’t.”

Becky smiles nervously and judging by the squeals from the two other girls he knows that exactly what she did. Castiel looks uncomfortable again and glances at Dean hoping to share what’s going on.

However, Dean is more focused on retrieving any and all evidence, “All right, hand em’ over.”

Jo holds up her free hand and holds her index finger in the air towards the ceiling while she types away on her phone.

The action catches Dean unprepared and he stares confused at her while she continues to type away. Her phone makes another beep and she happily sets it down in front of her with a smug look. Dean continues to stare at her, now in disbelief. “What did you-”

Another beep is heard across the bar, and when Dean glances over he sees Benny reach for his coat pocket pulling out his phone. He can hear Benny laughing from here. His anger is beginning to outweigh his embarrassment, but he’s not even sure what to say. Embarrassment takes the forefront of his emotions when he sees Castiel squirm in his seat and pull out his own cell phone.

He wasn’t even gone twenty minutes and they’ve already managed to get Castiel’s phone number and embarrass Dean for the rest of the evening if not week. He hasn’t even seen the photo, but it must be something judging by Castiel’s face. Dean can pinpoint the moment Castiel goes from confusion to understanding, and then a slightly sheepish face which can only mean the same embarrassment Dean is feeling right now.

Dean reaches over and snatches the phone from Castiel’s hand to look at the image and is dumbfounded by what he sees, “Oh my God, I’m frolicking.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	15. Chapter 15

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Frolicking.

Dean Winchester _frolicking_.

Three words that Dean never thought would be in the same sentence and, yet, here it is. Not only that, but there’s no telling exactly how many people Becky sent the photo to. There’s an even greater chance that Jo sent it to even _more_ people.

 At that thought, Dean freezes and gives Jo a hard stare. “Jo.” He takes a long breath through his nose. “Who all did you send that to?”

The large smile on her face falters a bit and before she can answer, Dean feels his own phone vibrate in his back pocket and takes a quick and nervous look around the bar before digging out his phone. He turns his back to the group and checks his phone.

_1 new message_

_Sam: We need to talk._

“Son of a bitch.” He pulls back his arm looking as if he’s going to throw his phone, but slowly drops his arm back at his side instead and clenches the phone tight in his hand. Dean shifts on his feet and looks five seconds from having a nervous breakdown. He drags his free hand down his face, then sighs. Dean’s pretty certain if this had been anything that was not work related, Sam would be more focused on humiliating and making fun of his older brother. Instead Dean knows that this will only give Sam more fuel to add to the fire and what is bound to be one epic bitch fit. He can already hear the nagging.

Dean’s still facing away from the group with the hand with his phone on his hip and the other rubbing at his mouth and chin. He doesn’t want to explain what’s going on to the others, or at least the ones that don’t already know or were involved. Already thinking of some excuse to give the others for his outburst, Dean’s trying to come up with some sort of plan to keep Sam from bitching at Dean in front of everyone when he shows up later.

Speaking of which, Dean looks at his watch and sees it’s already seven forty-five. He’s got about fifteen minutes before he’s going to need an answer for this problem. More focused on how he’s going to diffuse the moose shaped bomb, which Dean actually pictures and almost laughs, that’s going to be here any minute, he doesn’t notice the worried looks from his friends at the table. He doesn’t even see Benny get up from his place at the bar and walk over to them.

Jo scrolls through the people she sent the photo to, but is just as confused as before when she doesn’t notice anything wrong. She didn’t even send that to many people, mainly just people she and Dean would consider their closest friends and no one who would send it to anyone else.

_To: Mom, Moose, Crabby old man, Freeloader, Vamp numero uno, and Thursday_

She’s not sure when she included Doctor Novak in their little circle, but it brings a soft smile to her lips. Her attention is pulled away by ‘Vamp numero uno’ finally joining everyone at the booth. Giving up on Dean, because there’s no point in saying anything to Dean when he’s like this, she decides to talk to Benny. “Finally decided to join us?”

Benny tips his hat at everyone, and his gaze stops on the doctor who is staring very intently back. “This must be the doctor everyone is talking about.”

Castiel was not paying attention, however. He was too busy staring worriedly at Dean. Benny tried not to let his annoyance show, and to be perfectly fair he was worried about Dean too. He knows there’s something that Dean isn’t sharing, and as much as Benny wants to help his friend, he knows if he pushes then Dean will push away more. It’s difficult though, as amusing as the photo is and how much trouble he and the others can give Dean about it later, he’s a little jealous. Benny has never seen Dean so happy before, and the fact that it was because it was because of someone he just met makes it more unbelievable. There’s been plenty of times where he’s seen smile like that, but the scene in the courtyard was unlike any of the smiles that Benny have brought to Dean’s face.

But Dean’s happy, and as long as his friend is happy, he’s happy. Right now though, Dean’s not happy. Benny sighs and slides in the booth next to Charlie and the group seems to fall back into their conversation though it’s more strained than it was earlier.

 

_______________

 

Seventeen minutes pass, and Dean sees a huge figure walk in the door and scan the bar. It’s Sam, and he doesn’t look happy. Part of Dean is hoping that Sam won’t see him, but Dean’s luck is as rotten as it ever was. The moment Sam spots his brother, Sam’s brow creases even more.

Sam stomps over to where Dean is standing, somehow managing to dodge the other patrons and keep his glare trained on his older brother. Dean braces himself and waits for the inevitable yelling match to begin. “Are you insane?! If this gets out, this is only going to make things worse. How many people saw this?” Sam’s not wasting any time, and he’s not even giving Dean a chance to interrupt, “Where should I start? Working without compensation?” Sam starts counting with his fingers for emphasis.

Dean’s eyes widen when he realizes Sam’s not going to stop, “Sam.”

Sure enough, he keeps going and Dean’s sorely tempted to punch his brother when the next words fly out, “Working while on _suspension_?”

Charlie, Benny, and even Becky stare at Sam in shock, and then they each turn to look at Dean as if waiting for him to deny the accusation. Castiel looks down at his hands resting on the table, and Dean ignores the demanding stares from the others to glare at his brother and his big mouth.

Charlie knows it won’t work, but she nervously waves with a matching nervous bounce in her seat as she tries to break the tension, “Hey, Sam.”

Sam jerks when his name is called and it’s easy enough to tell that he had no idea anyone else was there. He seems to pick up on the unease in air, and his anger deflates dramatically. “You…” His shoulders slump slightly and he uncrosses his arms, “You didn’t tell them.”

Rather than answer, Dean glances away, but the twitch in his jaw and the crease in his brow tells Sam everything he needs to know. He’s only surprised that Dean hasn’t tried to deck him yet. The look on Dean’s face probably indicates he’s seriously considering it.

“Doctor Novak?” Sam looks at Castiel in complete confusion, and then back to Dean. Sam’s jaw sets, and there’s that deep inhale through his nose thing Sam does when he’s pissed, “Dean, can I talk to you for a second?”

Most of the time Dean prefers to do their screaming fits out in the open just to piss off his brother, but a twist in his gut tells him this is definitely something that should be discussed in private.

He’s still pissed at Sam for letting his suspention slip in front of the others, so rather than answer his brother, he starts walking over to where the restrooms are located. Dean doesn’t bother to see if Sam is following him.

Charlie smiles awkwardly at everyone, “Who’s up for more drinks?”

 

_______________

 

Sam doesn’t waste any time and jumps right in, “You should know the Hiserly’s are making accusations about you and Doctor Novak.”

That gets Dean’s attention. “Accusations? About what?”

Sam sighs, “They’re trying to make a case against you by saying the both of you were making biased decisions against better medical judgment.”

Dean crosses his arms, “Get to the point Sam.” He wants this conversation to be over with as soon as possible, and he can tell he’s going lose it if Sam doesn’t spit it out soon.

“The Hiserly’s are accusing you and Castiel being in relationship.” Sam’s eyes are searching and he’s expecting some kind of denial.

“Yeah, I wish.” It came out before Dean could stop it, and Dean throws a cautious glance to his brother from the corner of his eyes.

“Dean,” and then Sam’s making that expression he can only describe as pity, and Dean suddenly wishes for the bitch face to come back.

Quickly uncrossing his arms, Dean huffs, “Oh, let it go. You know they’ve got nothing and it’s all bullshit.”

“Is it, Dean? First off, there’s that photo, and second you really think I haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what?” Dean chances, but then he’s given what is probably the greatest bitch face in the history of Sam, he knows it’s pointless. He’s right. Sam isn’t buying it and Dean throws up his hands, “Alright, fine. Whatever. Just drop it, okay?”

Sam’s posture slopes slightly, “You know I can’t Dean. This is huge. If they somehow prove that you and Castiel are in a relationship and how either of your decisions were affected due to personal reasons rather than medical, then both of you could lose your jobs permanently.”

Dean scoffs, “They can’t prove something that has no truth to it.”

“Just…” Sam pauses and leans forward as he runs his hands through his hair. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dean’s not even looking at Sam now, he’s more intent on staring at the dots on the ceiling.

“I mean it, Dean.” This time it’s not anger, it’s not pity, it’s genuine concern and Dean remembers that while Sam is trying to do his job, he’s also still trying to look out for his brother.

Dean lets out a heavy sigh, “Alright. I get it.”

 

_______________

 

When Sam and Dean return to the booth, Dean notices Castiel isn’t sitting there anymore. “Hey, where did Cas go?”

Charlie pops a fry in her mouth, “He went to the bathroom right after you guys walked off.”

Dean’s eyes go as wide as they can, and he quickly looks towards the bathroom to see if he can spot Castiel. There’s no sign of the doctor, but Dean isn’t relieved yet. Not until he knows that Castiel didn’t hear anything about his and Sam’s conversation. It feels like everything that could have gone badly today is doing just that. Karma dictates something good should go his way for once, but he knows better.

Dean grabs the closest drink and downs the whole glass in one go, ignoring the raised eyebrows of everyone staring at him. He slams the glass down on the table and thinks about reaching for another one, “Don’t even, Sam. After your big mouth I think I can use a couple.”

What Sam says actually catches Dean off guard, “I think given the circumstances, you could use it. Just don’t drink yourself into a coma.” Sam shakes his head at Dean and then waves to everyone else, “I’m going to head out,” and then he scratches the back of his neck, “Sorry to drop in and ruin the party. Tell Doctor Novak the same, and that I’m sorry I missed him.”

Sam’s making his way towards the exit as everyone else says their goodbyes sans Dean who just grunts, but he freezes in his tracks when he sees a familiar face walk through the door. One that he thought he finally saw the last of.

A short man with hair slightly shorter than Sam’s with a more golden hue stretches his arms out in a welcoming manner and the largest shit eating grin on his face. “Have no fear everyone, the party can now officially start!” The man catches sight of Sam standing dumbstruck near the bar, which is no surprise because Sam kind of sticks out given his height. “Sammy!”

Dean knows that face, and he also recognizes that face Sam’s making. Karma seems to finally be working for him for once, or rather against Sam and it brings a smile to his face. About time Sam got some trouble for the mess he’s managed to make in the few minutes he’s been here.

Sam looks over at Dean pleadingly and Dean’s smile only grows. Finally realizing that Sam’s not going to get any help from his brother any time soon, he looks back to the man who’s already standing in front of him and slurping on a sucker.

The smile Sam manages is one of the most strained ones he’s ever managed, which says something considering the people he’s had to deal with as a lawyer. Sam’s teeth are clamped tightly together as he speaks, “Hello, Gabriel.”

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had a few people express interest in adding SamxGabriel to the list of pairings. For those not interested in that pairing, it’s not going to be a huge part of the story (though I might be persuaded to do a spin off, ficlet, or something) so you won’t have to worry.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

_The smile Sam manages is one of the most strained ones he’s ever managed, which says something considering the people he’s had to deal with as a lawyer. Sam’s teeth are clamped tightly together as he speaks, “Hello, Gabriel.”_

 

Sam can’t believe his luck tonight. First the disaster with his brother and Doctor Novak gets worse, and now the notorious trickster of the pediatrics floor shows up. Or rather, _former_ pediatrician.

 

_______________

 

Gabriel and his antics had always been trouble for Sam. He’s fairly confident that he did more work with Gabriel than the rest of the faculty combined. Gabriel had been signed up for everything from playing tricks on his patient’s parents, to pulling the same kind of stunts that his brother and Castiel pulled. Namely, acting out on personal reasons instead of better judgment and medical orders.

Really, Sam is amazed that Gabriel managed to keep his job as well as he did, even with both of the hospital lawyers putting out the fires Gabriel had no problems starting. Even then, Gabriel got a better position at a competing hospital a year ago, and uncharacteristically left without saying a word.

A few weeks after Gabriel’s transfer, Sam started panicking when he hadn’t heard of any sort of trouble from Gabriel and stormed up to the pediatrics floor in person to look for him because Sam swore he was up to something no good. He remembers having conflicting emotions when he heard about Gabriel’s abrupt transfer, and other than a quick thanks to the nurse who told him and just left.

_______________

 

Now, well over a year later, the doctor is back and acting as if he had been here the whole time.

Sam can only imagine what Gabriel is doing here and is about to ask just that, but Gabriel reaches up and pats his shoulder as he walks past him without so much as another glance. Instead, the doctor is heading over in the direction where Sam left his brother and the others. Sam actually is taken aback by the behavior and a feeling he can’t place twists inside.

Gabriel extends his arms out and up towards the ceiling and Sam doesn’t miss Castiel’s eyes go wide in panic. Sam’s seen that face before including on his own brother’s face, that’s the face that screams, “No, please God no. Anything but that,” and considering the source of that expression, Sam thinks it’s well deserved.

He wants to leave, Sam _needs_ to leave, but with Gabriel suddenly on the scene he’s not sure if that’s the best choice of action.

“Hey, Castiel!” The lawyer knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but Gabriel is so loud it’s kind of hard not to. “How’s my favorite little bro doing?”

“Gabriel?” Jo’s the first to speak up and she looks more baffled than anything else, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I just heard something from a little birdie that my straight-laced, by-the-books, baby brother is causing all sorts of trouble without me. I’m so proud of you!” Gabriel flings himself across Charlie and Dean in order to hug Castiel. Charlie squawks and pushes at Gabriel, while Dean and Castiel tense up at the sudden weight thrust upon them.

 “We’re not actually brothers.” Castiel says a bit more harshly than he intends to, “We were in the same fraternity in college.”

Gabriel looks around the table but doesn’t make any move to get up, “And you’re hanging out with people too! Little Cassie’s growing up. Look at all these lovely ladies!” Gabriel smirks, “And Jo too.”

Jo glares hard at Gabriel and Dean looks confused. “Wait,” The wheels in Dean’s head are turning, but the pieces click in place and then he’s suddenly pissed. “Get the hell off us,” he blurts out his voice a bit deeper than usual.

“Touch-y.” Gabriel gets up and squeezes himself between Castiel and Dean and it only makes Dean angrier. “So, give me the details.”

 

_______________

 

It seems safe enough to Sam, though chances are that everything is going to go to hell once he leaves, but he has too much to do.

He knows no one is at fault for the photo and it’s highly unlikely it’s going to leave the small group of people, but that’s just Jo’s copy. There’s no telling who else took a photo and that’s where the real problem is. He doesn’t like not having complete control of a situation, and likes it even less when he doesn’t know everything. He knows he overreacted, and really regrets what he let slip in front of the others, but he can talk to Dean about it later. Right now he deserves a little time off, and while it wasn’t under the best circumstances, it could still be good for him. As he heads to the door, he pulls out his cell phone and sends Dean a quick text. “Have fun. Just don’t drink so much you end up in the hospital as a patient.”

 

_______________

 

Dean jolts as his phone vibrates in his pocket, and he huffs a laugh at the message. He sends a text back, “bitch,” And then he pockets the phone again and smirks when it buzzes soon after because he already knows what it says without looking at it.

He’s still mad at Sam, but he’s glad that Sam’s not pushing too much on the drinking thing. Dean knows he could really use it, and hopefully he’ll get one in before the girls drink them all first.

Dean takes a long pull from the beer he managed to save from Charlie’s hands when the waitress brought over more drinks and Castiel and his food. He smirks as he watches the waitress place down two of the most artery clogging cheeseburgers he’s ever had the pleasure of eating. Dean only gets them once in a while because Sam is hounding Dean about his eating habits enough as it is. When he turns to look at the heart doctor’s reaction, Dean frowns remembering this new guy squeezed himself in between him and Castiel.

Castiel seems as if he’s trying to ignore the other doctor, but Gabriel is proving too distracting and Castiel hasn’t even noticed their food has arrived. So far Castiel has refused to discuss anything regarding the suspension even with the constant nagging of his friend.

Dean lightly thumps the back of the second doctor’s head with his right hand and leans over the table to look at Castiel, “Eat up big guy. Food’s here.”

After reaching a hand back to rub at the spot Dean flicked his head, he faces Dean and looks at him as if acknowledging him for the first time. “Cas, huh?” The man stills has a joking tone, but there’s something in his eyes that start sending off all kinds dangerous signals. This definitely is not someone he wants to get on their bad side. Something tells Dean that if the guy could find a way, he would have no problem killing Dean over and repeatedly if he could.

Okay, maybe nothing that extreme, but there’s still something that unnerves Dean about the guy.

“Well, _Cas_ ,” and even though the other doctor is addressing Castiel, he’s giving Dean a focused and hard stare. He’s not even blinking. “Since you’re determined to keep everything all hush hush right now, how about you introduce me to your new friends.” It’s not even a question, and Dean feels like he’s the only one that seems to pick up on the tension between him and Castiel’s friend.

Castiel seems completely unaware of the stare down between Dean and his doctor friend, and looks at his cheeseburger curiously. “Gabriel, this is Dean Winchester, Charlie-”

Gabriel doesn’t wait for Castiel to finish, “Wait.” Dean does not like the grin that crosses the smaller doctor’s face. “Dean Winchester? As in Sammy’s older brother Winchester?”

Dean frowns. He’s the only one allowed to call his brother Sammy, and who the hell is this guy that Castiel, Sam, and even Jo know? His brows furrow even more when a thought crosses his mind. Gabriel. Gabe is short for Gabriel. Realization dawns on his face and Gabriel’s grin gets even bigger, “ _You’re_   Gabe? You're the asshole who’s been giving my brother such a hard time?”

“Gabe? He gave me a nickname?” There’s a glint in Gabriel’s eyes that Dean doesn’t trust. “I didn’t think he thought so highly of me.”

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s doesn’t.” Dean doesn’t bother hiding the smug look on his face when Gabriel’s smile drops a bit.

“Hey, hey. Boys, boys! Put your dicks away. You’re making the place reek of testosterone.” Jo says out flippantly while reaching for another drink.

When Dean and Gabriel shoot a startled glance at Jo, they see a few things. One, Benny has slid in the booth beside Becky whose posture shrinks a bit when he does so. Two, Jo has managed to already drink a fair number of drinks during their pissing match, and finally, Castiel is already half way through his burger uncaring of the grease and sauce dripping down his fingers.

Castiel pulls the burger away from his mouth just enough so he can see it when he speaks around a mouthful of food, “These make me very happy.”

Charlie stares at Castiel slightly disgusted at the offending food, “Dude, that’s like a heart attack on a bun. Shouldn’t you like, be telling us how horrible those things are for us?”

Jo decides to answer as Castiel has taken another large bite when Charlie asks the question, “You’re kidding, right? These guys eat worse than anyone else. You’d think they’d eat better, but they don’t.”

 

_______________

 

The small group sets into a more comfortable mood once Jo set Dean and Gabriel in their place, and the two actually started getting along after a few more beers. The two already began planning on ways on how to prank Sam and come to a sort of alliance. The girls mostly talk about the new book of their favorite series that’s going to be coming out next month, and attempt to convince both Benny and Castiel into reading the series.

They stop drinking around ten and trade nameless stories of their worst patients. Dean could tell that everyone wanted to ask about what happened earlier in the day that would cause Dean and Castiel to be suspended, but after Benny got a glare from Jo, no one asked after that.

Gradually people started leaving; the first was Charlie and Becky who caught a ride with her. Jo, Benny, and Gabriel left on their own not long after, leaving Dean and Castiel alone. Dean really regrets drinking as much as he had already. He’s afraid of saying something stupid like he usually does, and without Jo there’s no one there to act as a filter.

Dean feels like it won’t be long before Castiel leaves to and he’s struggling to think of a reason to hang out a little longer. “Do you wanna play pool?”

Castiel sets his water down and looks at Dean apologetically, “I’m afraid I don’t know how to play.”

“I can teach you,” And there he goes. It hasn’t even been five minutes since the others have left for the evening and Dean’s mouth is already running without his permission.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many, many thanks to the anon who sent me a message on my writing blog. I was really bumming out, and you gave me the pickup I needed to get my butt back in gear.
> 
> Warnings: Homophobia, a bit graphic depictions of violence

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

_“I can teach you,” And there he goes. It hasn’t even been five minutes since the others have left for the evening and Dean’s mouth is already running without his permission._

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

Castiel stares at Dean curiously and the nurse half wonders if the doctor thinks he’s lost his damn mind. Part of Dean is inclined to agree with the doctor if that was the case.

“Hey, it was just an idea.” Dean tries to laugh it off and tries to keep himself from digging himself any deeper than he already is. “We can always call it a night, or-”

“I think I would enjoy trying to learn,” the doctor cuts Dean off effectively causing the nurse to stop his rambling. “That is, if the offer still stands.”

Dean knows the shock must show, but Castiel doesn’t say anything about it, instead he crawls out from the booth and starts walking towards the nearest open pool table. The nurse is thankful for not only Castiel not being able to see Dean now, but also for being able to see the doctor standing up from his seat for the first time since Dean arrived. Castiel should wear casual clothes more often.

His clothes are simple, but for the doctor they’re perfect and fit snug in all the right places. A voice inside his head reminds him that Sam said he was off limits, but another voice shouts back that doesn’t means he’s not allowed to look. He knows he’s getting too lost in his thoughts again when Castiel turns around to see Dean still sitting at the booth. The doctor is about to say something, but Dean quickly gets up from his seat and quickly makes his way over to join Castiel at the pool table.

 

_______________

 

It turns out that Castiel really has no clue when it comes to playing pool and Dean’s already spent a good fifteen minutes trying to explain how to hold the pool cue in every way possible. Well, every way possible without actually touching the guy. Dean’s already decided that he can look, not touch, but now Dean is starting to get annoyed and already forgets his original plan. He steps up behind Castiel and grips one hand around Castiel’s and tries to move his gorgeous, stop it Dean, fingers to the correct position.

Once he gets the doctor’s hands set correctly under his own and lines them up for a shot, he realizes what a terrible idea this was in the first place. Dean can only imagine how this looks right now to everyone else in the bar too. Dean’s got Castiel in his stupid tight jeans, bent over a table, and their hips what he would consider dangerously close to each other. He can’t even say he’s surprised when he hears a “Fucking fags” remark somewhere off behind them.

Dean wants to punch the guy in the face, but he doesn’t get the chance. He feels Castiel stiffen from under him and for a moment thinks Castiel finally notices the position they’re in making him uncomfortable. However, what happens next stuns everyone. Castiel spins out gracefully from out of Dean’s arms and fucking  _glides_  up to the man who’s clearly laughing at his own comment with his friends.

Castiel’s blue eyes are dark and stormy and trained on the man standing in front of him slightly startled. “I beg your pardon, but do you have a problem?”

The offending man’s smirk comes back, “Yeah. You and your boyfriend.”

Dean wants to smack that smug look off the guy’s face, but he knows if he joins in now, there’s a good chance this punks friends will join in too.

The doctor’s eyes narrow and he leans in, “I choose to neither confer or deny to avoid giving you any satisfaction over your weak inference, but I will say that if you wish to continue with your hateful prejudice against homosexuals, I will not hesitate to have you thrown out.”

That comment does manage the smile to fall from the man’s face and his anger matches that of Castiel’s, “You wanna fight queer?”

Without flinching or missing a beat Castiel responds, “You’ll lose.”

Dean can’t tell what’s going on at this point, the two men are standing too close and speaking low enough that he can’t hear anything. Other people are watching with varying concerned looks on their faces, but no one is making any movement to break up the confrontation or get help. It isn’t until he hears a loud gasp off to his side that he sees the other man pull out a knife as he whispers something to Castiel. He starts to move forward, but everything in front of him is suddenly a blur as the man swings his arm at Castiel and the doctor responds by grabbing his thrusting arm and flips him onto the pool table behind the attacker. The man cries out at the pain of being thrown onto the table with pool balls digging into his back where they couldn’t escape with the others. Castiel then twists the man’s arm with the knife and presses his free arm against the man’s throat.

The entire room goes quiet, and Dean’s heart is racing at what he just witnessed. A beat later, Castiel leans down and whispers something into the man’s ear that has the man go white. The man nods and drops his knife to the felt of the table below. Castiel’s attacker slowly tries to get up from the pool table and his friends try to help him up, but their efforts are brushed away by the now shaking man. Dean can hear them asking what happened and if they should do something, but he completely ignores them to instead focus on Castiel.

Dean can tell the doctor is still angry when Castiel turns to face him, by the creases in his brow and the clouded look in his eyes, but he can also tell that it’s starting to dissipate.

“Perhaps you can teach me how to properly play, when we don’t have such… inconveniences.” Castiel says the last word with an edge that the man who tried attacking him earlier is doing what Dean would consider a damn good impression of a turtle cowering inside its shell.

Castiel starts heading back towards their booth, with Dean following behind who makes sure to send the asshole a lift of his head and a smirk as he passes. The humor in Dean’s face vanishes when he sees Castiel start to pack up his few belongings. “Calling it a night then? Man, after that whole thing, I can’t say I blame you.” He’s trying to sound as lighthearted as he can and hide the disappointment in his voice, and as per Dean standards is doing a hell of a job.

The doctor looks up from the table to Dean and does that weird thing where he looks like he’s trying to look into Dean’s very soul. The moment passes and Castiel nods his head as he goes back to collecting his things, “We can if that’s what you wish. I was simply suggesting a change of location. It’s not like I have anything planned for tomorrow.”

Dean can’t help but perk up a bit at the comment, and he knows he really shouldn’t because he knows Castiel was referring to not working tomorrow. He just likes the idea of getting to spend some more one on one time with the doctor. Dean doesn’t even know what it is about the guy. The two hardly know each other, and while it’s not uncommon for Dean to be drawn in by someone or vice-versa, there’s something different here that he can’t put his finger on. Obviously this is not something he would say out loud to anyone else because he refuses to have any ‘chick flick moments,’ at least ones outside his head and he’ll never admit to those, and because this whole suspension thing isn’t helping matters. “Yeah, man. I think getting out of here is probably a good idea.” When Dean turns around he sees the bar keeps shaking their heads at them and Dean smiles and shrugs at them.

As the two are walking outside, Dean starts laughing which causes Castiel to look at him questioningly. “Man, I have to know.” Dean’s barely getting the words out between his laughs,  “What the hell did you say to him to make him look like that? Dude looked like he was going to piss himself.”

Castiel, to Dean’s surprise, looks embarrassed.  _Ashamed_  even. “I’m afraid I lost my temper and said something I shouldn’t have. I told him that his knife was a joke, and that I am a highly trained surgeonknowing exactly every point that would hurt the most and cause longstanding physical damage. Then I said I would not hesitate to make use of this knowledge if he did not persist. I may have also said something about his friends not being able to find all the pieces when I was finished with him…”

Dean’s eyes go large and his jaw drops open in shock as he stares at the doctor, but then his mouth twists and he’s laughing. “Holy shit! That’s awesome! That’s like some Harold Shipman shit right there.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because Castiel’s anger from before returns to the surface, “No, Dean. It is not  _awesome_. I lost my temper and I threatened him, and while he did the same about you, it does not make it okay.”

Dean’s trying to hold back his own anger, and he’s glad that Castiel dealt with the guy instead of him because, even now, Dean wants to go back in and beat the asshole to a bloody pulp. “He threatened you?” Castiel is unsure if he should say anything, but Dean pushes, “What did he say, Cas?”

The doctor sighs at Dean’s persistence, but gives in. “I could tell he pulled the knife from his pocket when he told me he was going to,” Castiel quotes the next part with his fingers, “Gut my boyfriend right in front of me and force me to watch.”

That was not what Dean was expecting. Far from it really. It catches him completely off guard that he’s rendered speechless. Castiel starts apologizing, but Dean’s tuning it out at the first “I’m sorry,” and completely blocks out the rest. Chances are there was something important said in there, but Dean’s not having any of it. “Cas, you have nothing to be sorry about. That guy was an asshole and I know you won’t like it, but I’m glad you gave that son of a bitch what was coming to him.”

An odd look crosses Castiel’s features and Dean’s really starting to wish he paid more attention to what he said before Dean cut him off, but he’s not sure what it means. Rather than focusing on all the ‘what ifs’ it could possibly mean, Dean decides the best course of action is to change the subject… and the scenery. “All right.” He claps his hands together once nearly causing Castiel to jump, “If you follow me, I’ll show you were the best place to…” Dean trails off when he sees Castiel looking around with that ‘I’m too embarrassed to look at you right now’ look.

“I apologize. I was under the impression that I would be too inebriated to drive so I took a cab.” Castiel is staring at his shoes as if he’s talking to them and not Dean.

“You…” Dean starts laughing again. “No, that’s a good idea man. Smarter than me anyway.” It’s true. Dean had every intention to get shit faced and drown his problems away and never once considered how he was going to get home. They’re fortunate right now though because it’s been long enough, in Dean’s opinion anyway, that he doesn’t feel any trace of alcohol inhibiting his abilities. To be fair though, they’ve hardly drank at all considering the girls were doing it for them. “It’s no problem. You can ride with me. Now, let’s get some pie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/Ns: The pool lesson was supposed to be longer, but I just really wanted them out of the freaking bar already, so you get bamf!Cas instead (because regardless of AU, Cas will always be a badass/soldier type character to me).


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy “Commercial Bankrupt Your Partner with Useless Things and Chocolate if You Have One” Day.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

_“It’s no problem. You can ride with me. Now, let’s get some pie.”_

 

_______________

 

Dean’s glad he phrased it the way he did. In usual circumstances, he would have laced the comment with innuendo and suggestions and he’s a bit surprised that he didn’t if he’s honest. The doctor is completely unaware of Dean’s internal monologue with himself, and continues following Dean to his car. Dean can’t help the smile that sneaks onto his face when he sees Castiel gently run his hand across the hood of the car as he makes his way to the passenger seat.

The two men get into the car, the sound of the doors creaking open are barely heard over the sounds of the bar spilling outside. Dean wastes no time in starting the car and he takes in the low rumble of the engines purr before he puts on his seatbelt and looks over at Castiel who mirrors his movements. The glance over at Castiel was meant to be quick, but the second Castiel’s sapphire eyes catch Dean’s emerald ones, he’s transfixed and can’t look away. He has no idea how long the two of them stare at each other, and it isn’t until a few cackling, and clearly drunk women, stagger out of the bar that Dean can tear his eyes away from the doctor. His lips twist in a nervous smile and puts the car in drive to pull out of the parking lot.

What the hell was that? His heart is racing now and, even though he knows better, he feels like there’s no way Castiel isn’t able to hear it. Dean’s been in plenty of staring contests with other people, mostly leading up to one night hookups, but this was on a whole new level. Everything about the way Castiel looked at him was intense, almost as if Castiel can actually see inside him. The thought of anyone actually being able to do that brings a small sense of dread inside him. What bothers him even more is the fact that he can _feel_ Castiel still staring at him.

To alleviate the tension as he pulls out of the parking lot, Dean resorts to small talk so then Dean can pretend there’s a different reason for Castiel’s staring. “Sorry about the pool. If you want, I have my own pool table so I could teach you at my place.” Dean visibly winces at his words. Leave it to him to turn small talk into what undoubtedly sounds like a really bad come on line. As if the staring wasn’t bad enough, he had to let his mouth makes things worse.

He sees movement from the corner of his eyes and finds himself looking over instinctively and is surprised that the movement turns out to be Castiel nodding. The words that come next confirm as much, “Yes, I would like that.” Dean’s mind is racing. He’s not sure if there’s a hidden meaning, or if Castiel just really wants to learn pool.

Pie.

Dean decides to focus on the pie for now. They’re not that far away from his favorite restaurant and soon he put all his stupidity behind him and center on the delicious, fruity taste of pie that is waiting for them. His hands tighten on the wheel when his mind quickly derails off track and starts leaning towards other things that he would consider delicious. Things that he really, _really_ shouldn’t think about with present company. It gets even worse when he starts thinking about a combination of those things together. His eyes go wide at the most recent thought, one he won’t admit out loud or even in his head, and looks over at Castiel through the corner of his eyes.

Castiel has that confused puppy look he seems to be a professional at and still hasn’t looked away from him. Dean would give anything to know what Castiel is thinking right now, and if the guy is a mind reader. If he is, which is ridiculous, things are going to get very awkward especially since the doctor is doing very inappropriate things with pie in Dean’s head right now.

 _Dammit_.

Dean told himself he wasn’t going to admit to that. Now the thought is getting even harder to push away. He grits his teeth at the words he just used, even if it was only inside his head. Dean’s pretty certain he’s starting to sweat so he reaches over and turns the air up a little and then attempts to zero on things that will calm down his apparently insistent libido. He tells himself he’s being completely absurd. Dean hasn’t acted anything like this since he was talking with or even thinking about his first crush.

He assumes that Castiel is taking pity on him because the doctor finally decides to speak and break through the tension, “Where did you learn to play pool?”

Dean’s pushing back a shiver at the thought of imagining Bobby Singer in lingerie, which does wonders to cool him off, when Castiel asks the question. “To be honest, I’m not all that proud of it, though I’d do it again in a heartbeat. My brother and I used to hustle pool to save up money for school.” He doesn’t want to continue because it’s going to bring up a lot of sad memories and as much as he likes Castiel, in more ways than one, he’s not ready to share certain things with him yet. Thankfully Castiel doesn’t push any further on the matter, but the uneasy silence takes hold once more. Castiel finally turns his head away and stares out the window as he rests his head against the glass.

“What about you, Cas?” Dean’s trying to push to bring back the small talk. As much as he would love to turn on and crank up the radio, even he knows it would be rude to do that after effectively ending a conversation so abruptly. The doctor turns to look at Dean again, and Dean’s conflicted about having Castiel’s full attention again. “What do you do for fun on your time off?”

Dean gets nervous when there’s no response at first, but he’s too focused on the road to glance at Castiel so he misses when Castiel opens his mouth a few times and then frown at not having an immediate answer. “I’m not sure.” Castiel finally responds and Dean chances a quick glance at the doctor before going back to watching the road. “I’ve never really had much time off to do anything.”

The nurse smiles, “Work-a-holic, huh? Yeah, I can relate to that.” Dean comes to a halt at a stop sign and checks his nine and three before continuing. “I’m pretty sure I spent more time at the hospital than my own house.”

Castiel nods and comes to the same conclusion about himself. “You own your own house then?”

“Yeah.” Dean can feel his smile spread over his face. “Got a really good deal on it, though I have to say I don’t need all that space. I guess I just felt that I needed to spend my money on something after I paid off all my school bills.”

“Perhaps I should do that.” Castiel is musing aloud, and Dean thinks it’s more to himself than to Dean. “I’ve done nothing but save, and I hardly spend anything on myself other than the bare essentials including rent on my apartment.”

Dean looks confused by that, “Apartment? I figured you’d have your own place. I sure as hell know you make more than I do.”

“I never had the time to look, and I suppose I never had the desire to.” Dean pulls up to the restaurant a little saddened now that the two finally started to get to know each other better.

It’s not that Dean thinks they won’t talk to each other now, but Dean knows he’s going to be a lot more focused on the food. Sure enough, when the two step out of the car, Dean’s smell is assaulted by the delectable aroma of baked goods. He’s smiling when he notices Castiel perk up at the smell as well.

 

_______________

 

The pie is amazing, but Dean expected no less. He also made the most obscene noises when eating his own slice and doesn’t care. It’s been far too long since he’s been able to come here and get an amazing, let alone decent, slice of pie. After Dean and Castiel finish their slices of pie they continue their small talk from where they left off in the car ride over. Dean learns that Castiel comes from a large family and has one sister, Anna. He doesn’t elaborate on that, however, but Dean gets it. There’s plenty of family issues that he’s not comfortable with sharing yet, so he imagines it’s the same for Castiel. When it’s Dean’s turn to talk about himself, he gets a bit sidetracked and talks mostly about Sam but Castiel listens to every word.

Eventually, it’s closing time and the two are heading back to the car. It’s only been one day since their suspension, but Dean can’t remember having so much fun with someone, and that should bother him especially given the circumstances, but he can’t.

They get so lost in their conversation that Dean doesn’t even realize that they’re at Dean’s place until he pulls up into the driveway and he hears a questioningly, “You live here?”

Castiel is staring in awe at Dean’s house, and Dean takes the opportunity to bang his head against the steering wheel. He got so wrapped up in everything that he drove back to his house on pure instinct. Now he’s brought Castiel back to his place and his nerves are already freaking out again.

Sitting up, Dean collects himself as best as he can. Just because he’s having a major freak out, doesn’t mean Castiel has to know. In fact, it’s better that he doesn’t because it will only bring questions Dean desperately wants to avoid. He leads the way to the front door and finds it unlocked.

“Huh. I guess Kevin’s at it again.” Dean smirks as he pushes the door open.

Dean’s back is facing Castiel, so he misses the way Castiel stiffens, “Kevin? Is he your roommate?”

“Heh. Something like that I guess.” Dean starts making his way down the stairs.

Castiel closes the door and follows behind Dean. He’s confused at everything that’s happened today. First he went from having a secure job, to being suspended. Then he spent the entire day with Dean gardening in the courtyard of the hospital. It wasn’t until the bar that everything started to change. Things were going well enough at first, but then he caught the conversation Dean and Sam had when he went to the restroom. After that, there was the whole pool lesson fiasco. Castiel was furious when the man threatened to hurt Dean and he lost it. He’s never gotten so mad before, and he’s dealt with far worse patients and the family of patients. Now he’s getting angry at someone he hasn’t even met with and for no reason.

“Hey, Kev. Are you here?” Dean calls out as he throws his keys on the large wooden table.

It’s no surprise when Kevin Tran walks around the corner with several books in his hand and a sandwich precariously sticking out of his mouth. He sets the books down on the table and takes a bite out of his sandwich. “Hey, Dean. Uh…”

Kevin’s eyes have wandered over to the confused doctor, and Dean wants to laugh. “Kevin, this is Cas. He’s a doctor at the hospital I work at. Cas, this is my neighbor Kevin.” He actually does laugh when he sees both men’s eyes widen at the introductions. To be honest, he has no idea why Castiel looks so surprised, but he knows that Kevin is clearly excited about having someone else to talk about the medical field with.

“Nice to meet you, Kevin.”

“Uh, yeah. You too.”

Dean can see hundreds of questions forming in the teen’s head and decides to spare Castiel the phenomenon Dean can only describe as “Tran excitement.” A trait that runs through both Linda and Kevin. “Kevin, I know you want to talk to Cas, but we’re both pretty worn out and I kind of told Cas I would teach him pool.”

“Sure, Dean.” Kevin looks a little disappointed, but there’s a smile there too.

At Castiel’s continued confusion, Dean clarifies, “Kevin here, is learning to be a med student and is already in Advanced Placement.”

“See you later, Dean. Nice meeting you, uh, Cas.” Kevin leaves the books out, like he usually does, and shows himself out leaving Dean and Castiel alone.

When the door shuts behind Kevin, the room seems a lot more quiet than it should be possible and it’s already far more uncomfortable than Dean would like. “So, uh… pool?”


	19. Chapter 19

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

 

_When the door shuts behind Kevin, the room seems a lot more quiet than it should be possible and it’s already far more uncomfortable than Dean would like. “So, uh… pool?”_

_______________

 

Castiel nods and Dean starts walking them towards what he deemed the “game room.” After walking them through the first two rooms and then down the hall Dean catches the doctor looking around curiously at everything as they pass. Dean rubs the back of his head nervously, “Sorry. I should give you the tour first, shouldn’t I?” Before the doctor can object, Dean lightly bumps his elbow against Castiel’s side in a playful manner. “Though, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know the whole place myself.”

Confusion quickly overcomes Castiel and he finds he can’t help but ask, “You don’t know your own house? How long did you say you have lived here?”

Dean winces at the blunt question, though the tone that he asked his question in says that he’s at least genuinely curious. The look on his face tells Dean that Castiel doesn’t even realize how his question might have come across to someone else. “Uh, well, the place is really big and I keep finding new places…” Now that the words are out, Dean knows how stupid this all sounds. There’s no real reason he shouldn’t know his own house, or that the fact the only person who does know the place is his neighbor who does all the cleaning for him. “I could give you a rain check on the pool lesson, and we can both do a little exploring instead.”

He doesn’t know why his mouth is saying the dumbest shit right now, but Dean wishes it would stop any time now. Thankfully, Castiel doesn’t read into Dean’s words too much and does that almost there smile thing Dean’s rapidly wanting to see more and more. Not that he would ever say that out loud. There’s a better chance of saying something to screw everything up because that’s what he does. Dean doesn’t even know how many times he and his brother got into a huge argument because of his mouth running off on its own before he can stop it. It’s one of the reasons he has problems holding on to relationships the other, of course, is to working too much. Hell, it’s partly his stupid mouth that got Castiel, Ellen, and him in this mess to begin with.

If Castiel minds Dean’s inner struggle with himself, he doesn’t show it. Instead he looks around and nods his head as he does so. “Yes, I would like that.”

Dean shows Castiel around to the rooms he is more familiar with, but when he starts getting towards the back of the house, or what he supposes is the back of the house, he finds himself pausing and second guessing where things are. He scratches the back of his head when he gets to a certain part of the house and admits he has no idea where they are. Thinking on it, a part of him feels ridiculous for not knowing the layout of his own house and one that he’s lived in for this long. The place is remarkably clean though, so Dean makes a mental note to thank Mrs. Tran for always helping out with the house’s upkeep and cleaning. At the very least buy her and Kevin dinner whenever she does so because this place is ridiculously huge.

The two come across a hallway Dean has ventured down fewer times than he can count on both hands and the doctor stops and stares quizzically at one of the walls. To Dean, the wall looks like any other part of the wall so he’s flabbergasted when he watches Castiel press against the wall softly and hears a soft click. The wall pushes out like a door and Dean can see the latch at the top where the door is held in place until the release is triggered.

“How did you know that was there?” Dean’s fairly certain that there’s no way he would have ever found that door intentionally and he can’t help but wonder how Castiel found it so quickly.

Castiel starts walking through the door, glancing around as he does so. “There was a draft.” He pauses in his steps and looks back at Dean, “You didn’t know this was here?”

Dean shakes his head and then looks curiously into the new dark room. He spots a circular, metal, and very old light switch to the side just beyond the door. He flicks it a few times and sighs when no light comes on. He can’t say he’s surprised. The room is dusty and the air is stale that he imagines no one has been in this room for a long time. After he pulls out his lighter, he spots an antique oil lamp he’s never bothered to get rid of and now he’s thankful for not having the time to do so.

The oil lamp is carefully lit and recovered with its clear, glass cover. Dean decides to take the lead because he has the light, and if anything happens he’d much rather have it happen to him instead of the doctor but refuses to admit the last part aloud. There’s a small concrete walkway for a few steps that leads up to a metal grated one, and then up to a flight stairs of the same metal. The two continue down the stairs for some time and Dean’s starting to get nervous at how far they’re going, until they reach the bottom where a large metal door stands off to the side.

Dean rattles the door handle and frowns when the door doesn’t budge. It’s not locked, it’s just stuck. He hands the lamp off to Castiel and bumps his shoulder against the door times to jimmy it open. The door finally pushes open, but the room beyond it is pitch black so wherever they ended up has no windows. Castiel hands the lamp back to Dean and the nurse checks the wall for some clue of where they are. Dean spots another switch, much like the one at the top of the stairs, and tries his luck.

“Holy shit.” Dean’s eyes go wide as Castiel stares in silence and both men look around the large room.

Very few lights came on and the ones that did are flickering indicating the near end of their lifespan, but it’s more than enough to show off what appears to be a storage garage. There’s dust everywhere, but it’s nowhere near enough to hide the antique cars or the two motorcycles tucked in spaces on the opposite side. Between the motorcycles is another set of stairs with red, metal railings on either side of them. There’s also the same design on the walls like the ones in the library and a strange motif mounted on the far wall. The motif looks like two inverted arrow points and Dean has no clue where it’s from. More importantly, he has no idea what the hell he bought. Some of these cars look like they go back as far as somewhere in the 1800s and no one knew they were here? How many other things are hiding inside this house?

Dean notices that there are garage doors on the motorcycles side so he assumes that’s how the cars were brought in. The problem with that though is, he fairly certain that’s also were the lake is. It must be relatively safe though as the lake doesn’t actually reach his house, but he should probably check what’s down the stairs before opening any of the doors.

He walks down the stairs to the lower level with the cars, Castiel following closely behind. The stairs by the motorcycles is short and leads up to a door, which Dean assumes is a walk in entrance slash exit to the garage. Beside the door is a significant amount of unlabeled key rings and a car crank, and when Dean realizes the door is locked he hopes one of these keys is to the door.

When Dean thinks about it, he notices they’ve both been really quiet since stumbling into the hidden garage. He looks over his shoulder at Castiel as he begins fumbling around with the different sets of keys, and presumably out of the garage, and whatever he was going to say disappears along with his smile when he catches the doctor’s gaze is completely focused on Dean rather than the treasure trove around them. Castiel is doing that whole close proximity thing again and Dean turns back to face the door as he scrambles to open the door.

Fortunately, the first set of keys, which makes the most sense when Dean thinks about it, opens the lock on the door. Well, he opens the door about half an inch before he’s met with resistance. No water, however, which Dean is thankful for, but now he’s confused at where this door leads out exactly. He didn’t see any doors on the outside grounds this far down, but then again he didn’t even see the upstairs down to the garage either. He continues trying to use his shoulder to budge the door open, and it gradually gives a small amount each time his shoulder collides with the door. His shoulder is sore by the time the door is about an inch and a half open, and by this point he can see that there are vines holding the door in place.

Dean jumps when he feels a hand on his shoulder, not the one he’s been banging against the door much to his relief, and he turns to see Castiel holding a large pair of shears. The doctor hands the shears off to Dean, and edges himself to where Dean was. Dean simply watches confused as Castiel hands him the gardening tool and lightly pushes him aside. It isn’t until Castiel starts shoving against the door with his own shoulder that Dean figures out what Castiel is doing.

He has to give the guy more credit. Castiel is a lot stronger than he looks. In just three shoves, the door is nearly half way open though another part of him says that Dean loosened it for him. Satisfied with his progress, Castiel moves to the side to let Dean back in. Much to Dean’s embarrassment, it takes him a few seconds to realize it’s his turn again.

The first few cuts are hesitant, almost gentle, but after the first few vines fall to the ground, Dean is cutting the earthy limbs with a vigor much like the one he had when he and Castiel were working in the courtyard.

Once enough of the barricade is cut away, Dean is able to push the rest of the door open to see that they are still a good distance away from the lake. Dean’s just glad that he doesn’t have to worry all that much about flooding. Stepping outside and turning around he sees what the house inspectors mentioned when they did the house inspection before he signed for the house. Even with the sky getting dark, he can make out years’ worth of vines cover the wall and garage doors so it’s no wonder no one knew the doors were even there. The house inspectors told him ahead of time to have the plants removed as they can cause structural damage.

“Guess I should have taken care of these sooner,” Dean laughs softly at his own neglect of his house. “Funny that I’m willing to help someone else out on gardening before even bothering with my own, right?”

Castiel is surveying the engulfed wall and takes a few steps backwards to the lake as he does so. “It’s understandable. I find myself wanting to help others before myself, and I can only assume it also applies to one’s house care as well.”

Dean can’t help himself from smiling, “So you’re offering to help?”

That “almost but _not quite_ smile” graces Castiel’s face again as he looks at Dean, “Well, seeing as it isn’t my wall, and you haven’t bothered until now…”

“Ha!” Dean barks out a surprised laugh, “Did you actually just make a joke?” It was a pretty lame joke, to be honest, but Dean finds himself laughing none the less.

Turns out it’s worth it though because just after he starts laughing, an actual smile creeps onto Castiel’s face. He even looks proud of himself for successfully making Dean laugh. “Yes, Dean. I would be more than happy to assist you. That is, if you’ll have me.”

Dean’s laugh quickly fades away as he tries to push the last part of Castiel’s comment far away from his brain before he can think any more inappropriately about it. He does his best to keep from showing how much it caught him off guard, but he assumes Castiel is on to something judging by the questioning look he’s giving Dean.

“Another day maybe.” Dean slaps a hand on Castiel’s shoulder and starts heading back inside. “It’s getting dark out and who knows what else we have left to explore, right?”

 

_______________

 

The two continue on their exploration of the house and Dean’s amazed at how large the place actually is. He only uses around five rooms, so he never has a reason to do much investigating until now. He’s secretly glad for it, however, because chances are it wouldn’t be near as much fun if it was just him. It would probably be creepy actually.

As it happens, it still is pretty terrifying when they find the next hidden room. Dean’s the one to find something out of the ordinary this time when he sees one bookcase in the middle of the hallway. Granted, the hallway is wider than the average sized one, but the bookcase is almost taking up nearly half of the hallway. He stops to study it with a critical eye, running his fingers along the edge up against the wall. Although he doesn’t feel a breeze, there’s enough of a gap for his fingers to slip behind the bookcase and up against what clearly feels like the frame of a door. Pushing against it, he realizes that there’s no way he’s going to move a completely full bookshelf on his own.

Castiel notices Dean’s trouble, but even when he helps push against the side, the bookcase barely moves. In fact, it feels as if it’s locked down to something. Dean looks questioningly at Castiel when he stops from helping push the bookshelf and instead looks over the contents of it and then runs his hands down at the bottom.

“What’s up, Cas?” Dean stands up straight from where he was pushing against the side of the bookcase.

The doctor seems to be too focused to reply, and lightly taps his hand against the bottom molding of the shelf. Then he pushes it the bookcase from the front and finds there’s more give albeit shaky. With more force this time, he pushes harder and the two men can hear hidden wheels rolling underneath as the shelf pushes against the door frame. There’s the problem though. The bookcase is on the wrong side of the door frame.

Glancing over at Dean, Castiel asks in the usual serious and gruff tone. “Are you overly attached to the door frame?”

Dean looks at the shelf and then back to Castiel before he sputters a few times and then finally manages out, “Uh, not really I guess? Didn’t even know it was there until now.”

Castiel nods and with s grunt pulls the shelf back out in an attempt to get at the frame’s molding. He squints his eyes and tries to pull out the molding without much luck as the house is still in remarkable condition despite its age. When it doesn’t give, he glares at it as it’s personally offended him and then sighs. “Do you have a crowbar? Or possibly a hammer and chisel?”

Damn. Castiel is really determined to see what’s behind the door. Dean’s curious too, but now he just wants to help Castiel to put the guy’s mind at ease. “Yeah. I think I saw something in that garage.” He starts walking off towards the garage before he pauses and turns back to the doctor. “I’ll be back in a second.”

When Castiel doesn’t answer, and seems more intent on glaring at the bookshelf, Dean takes that as his cue to leave. As he’s making his way down the hallways, Dean starts to see the place in a new light. One: who knows what else they’re going to come up with? Are they going to have to worry about finding someone’s body behind a wall somewhere? Two: this is looking more like a project that will take longer than one night. Three: What the hell is he going to do with all this space? Now giving it a closer look, he’s blown away at the fact Mrs. Tran is able to keep this place as clean as it is, not to mention he feels even worse that she’s doing it in the first place. He wonders if he should think about having roommates or something to help himself justify having a place this huge. It does seem a “bit” empty he realizes as he wanders down the quiet hallways and vacant rooms. He’s so lost in thought that he’s already walking back from the garage with the tools in hand.

Once back, he sees that Castiel has managed the other half of the door frame off, clearly very eager to get the job done since he couldn’t wait for Dean to come back with the tools. He can’t help but smile at the doctor’s eagerness. “Couldn’t wait to tear up the place, huh?”

Castiel actually looks down embarrassed, but refrains from saying anything.

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Dean laughs. “I’m just messin’ with ya.” He hands Castiel the crowbar he found and uses the chisel and hammer to pry up the molding.

The floor’s a mess and he’s certain he will hear about it later from Mrs. Tran if he doesn’t clean it up before she sees it, but now that all the pieces of the frame are ripped away the bookcase has just enough room to slide in the wall. The two manage to push the bookcase back and only have difficulty putting the bookcase on the track where the wheels run. Once back to its original place, the shelf clicks in place even with the wall. If the molding was in place, rather than all over the floor, chances are Dean wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Castiel fumbles around with the contents of the shelf until he finds the switch that unlatches the “door” and easily pushes it to the side.

Great. Another dark room. Obviously there isn’t a light switch on the side with the bookcase, so Dean checks the opposite side. Fortunately, there is switch. Even better, the light works.

The room is incredibly dusty, with file cabinets and metal shelves packed with boxes fill the room for a length Dean would have never suspected lay behind a damn bookcase. Now that Dean’s looking for them, he immediately spots another space that looks out of the ordinary just to his right as he steps in. Thankfully, this door is easier to open than the previous one.

Dean’s eyes go wide at the small hidden room as the air from his lungs is ripped out from him. “Oh my god. I have a dungeon.”


End file.
